Numb
by ITgwendolendragon
Summary: Matilda Tauscher has always been more masculine than she has been feminine. She's never liked wearing dresses, playing with dolls, or helping her mother cook. She'd much rather wear pants, play baseball, and help her dad out in the yard, so it came as no surprise to anyone when she joined the US Airborne in 1942. But how long can she handle it? How long before it breaks her? Roe/OC
1. Give Me One Good Reason

A/N - Wow. This turned out a lot longer and lot better than I thought it would. I've attempted two Band of Brother's stories already and going back and reading them now makes me cringe. They were so poorly written, of course, I was barely fifteen when I wrote them. I'm very proud of this, this first chapter is 6 and a half thousand words long, the longest chapter I've ever written for a fanfic I think. I'm going to work hard on this, I want this to be good. I hope you enjoy it and please give it a review if you have time and I accept constructive criticism. This is Roe/OC, but there will be plenty of love from the other guys as well. Bill is a major character and I think Chuck Grant deserves a little more love, so he's a major character as well. Anyway, R&R and enjoy!

Disclaimer - This is done for entertainment reasons only, I wish no disrespect to the men who served in the second world war, I have nothing but the upmost respect for them and what they've done.

0-0-0-0-0

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" The chants of the other children surrounded me and my opponent as we stood in the schoolyard, circling around each other, waiting to see who'd throw the first punch.

Me and the dark haired boy were both fighters, and we both had loud mouths. It started as a simple ribbing, started on my part. I'm not going to lie, I was a bully as a kid, I regretted it, but that didn't change anything. The other boy was a bit brash as well, but he didn't usually go looking for a fight, he waited for the fight to come to him, and boy was he ready. He did seem to feel a little awkward about all of this though, the way his anger faltered here and again, but that only made me angrier.

I couldn't stand it anymore, I threw the first punch and it hit him right in the jaw. His head went to the side and his eyes shut in pain, but he didn't make any sound. He just glared back at me, spitting on the ground, there was no blood. Not yet. He swung at me, but I jumped back and he missed. He swung again, and I dodged once more. I was small and quite quick, it was hard to get me. I swung at him again and hit him right in the mouth. He made a noise of pain and spit on the ground again, this time there was blood. He winced at the taste of it in his mouth, but he didn't take a step back, he held his ground. I was becoming confident I would win this fight, he had yet to hit me, but being this confident was bad. I got a little in over my head sometimes, and when it happened it happened. He punched me as hard as he could right in the side of the head, and it made me dizzy at the sheer force of it. He was strong for a little guy. But so was I.

I staggered a little bit, and he swung at me again, catching me in the eye this time. I staggered backwards and tripped over my own feet, falling backwards onto my back, the force of me hitting the ground knocking the air out of my lungs. He glared down at me, but made no move to attack me further.

"Maybe you should think about who yer messing with next time, short stop," The boy snapped down at me, his dark eyes full of rage as the kids around us cheered him on. They didn't really have a side though, they just wanted to see a fight.

I glared up at him as I heaved, trying to catch my breath as the boy turned around, getting congratulated by the other kids around him. I didn't like being the loser, I had to win. I stood and quickly and cried out in rage before I ran into him from behind and knocked him right off his feet. I knocked the wind out of him and probably gave him whiplash from the surprise of tackling him.

I sat on his back and punched him there several times before I grabbed a fistful of his black hair and lifted his head so I could see his face as I spoke to him, "Maybe _you_ should think about who _you're_ messing with, tiny."

Then I shoved the side of his face into the ground and grabbed a handful of dirt, trying to shove it in his mouth. He sputtered and kicked and punched, trying to get me off of him, but being on his belly like this it was hard to get a hit in. My victory didn't last long though, as I was suddenly grabbed by the back of my t-shirt and pulled off of the younger boy. I was lifted off my feet for a split second and even when I was set down on my feet, the person who had grabbed me still had a tight hold on my shirt.

The other boy was also lifted off the ground and he began tp spit up dirt, wiping his mouth and wincing at the foul taste on his tongue.

"What the _hell_ are you boys doing?!" A man's voice suddenly cried and I looked up to see his face and his eyes widened with shock when he saw me, "Matilda Tauscher, what on earth do you think you're doing?!"

The boy I was fighting with eye's widened in shock, "Yer a girl?!"

I winced at his tone, but glared at him, "Yes, I'm a girl, you idiot!"

"Matilda, you are in for the beating of a lifetime!" The man shouted, glaring down at me in anger, but there was also disappointment in his hazel colored eyes, then he glared at the boy, which caused him to flinch, "And William Guarnere. I know your dad, don't think I won't tell him about this!"

William gulped with terrified eyes, "B-but she started it!"

"I don't care who started it! You were both fighting and you both got hurt, look at yourselves!" The man yelled, glaring down at the both of us, then the man's face changed. His angry look dropped at the sight of our injuries and he gazed at the both of sympathetically, but with disappointment, "Both of you, get in the car. I'll call your dad, Bill. And the rest of you, go the hell home or I'll call all of your parents, how about that?"

Nothing made a twelve year old run faster than the threat of getting in trouble from their parents. The crowd quickly dispersed and the man released both me and Bill, "Get in the car."

He walked to the car and got in the driver's seat. I cast a glance at Bill, who was giving me a slightly angry look, but he looked shocked now, too, it sort of covered his annoyance with me. I just glared at him and prodded at my black eye, sucking in a sharp breath at the pain there, "You'll pay for that."

Then I got in the car.  
0-0-0-0-0  
"Dad, he was calling Mary names, I couldn't let him do that!" I said as he prodded at my eye with a package of frozen peas, making me wince.

"Here, hold this to your eye," He said, and I took it from him, "I know for a fact that you started that fight, Maddie."

"What?! You don't believe me?!" I cried in surprise, well... I was surprised that he saw through my lie, of course I started that fight.

"I've had dinner with the Guarnere family before, they're good friends of mine. I know Bill doesn't start fights. He fights, but he doesn't start him, he just stands his ground," My father told me, looking to see if I was hurt anywhere else.

"But I-" I was cut off by my mother suddenly coming into the kitchen, a rag covered in blood in her hand.

"Matilda Tauscher, I cannot believe you!" She snapped harshly, glaring at me, her hands on her hips, "Why would you pick a fight with that young man in there? Explain yourself!"

"He's not as innocent as he looks, ma! He's always making wise ass remarks towards me at school!" I cried, and my father glared at me when I cursed.

"Matilda, watch your mouth!" My mother snapped, glaring at me disapprovingly, "I want you to get up out of that chair and go and apologize to that boy, right now!"

"But ma-"

"Now!" She said it so harshly I flinched.

I sighed and bowed my head, removing the frozen peas from my face and setting them on the table next to me, "Fine."

I stood and weaved around the chair my dad was sitting in, and he watched me go. He looked up at my mother calmly, and she put a hand to her forehead in exasperation, "That child is going to be the death of me."

I walked into the living room where Bill was sitting on the couch, prodding at his swollen and scabbed over lip. He looked up when he heard footsteps coming towards him and we caught eyes. He narrowed his eyes at me and pointed to his face, "Ya see what ya did? Ya screwed up my face!"

"It was already like that," I remarked sarcastically, not even cracking a smile. My look was hard and annoyed.

"How much ya weigh? 'Cause I bet I could throw ya out that window no problem," Bill said back, making me narrow my eyes at him now.

"You're making this harder than it has to be," I told him, and he cast me a confused look.

"Making what harder than it has ta be?" Bill asked, going back to poking and prodding at his lip.

"I'm supposed to apologize to you," I said, averting his dark eyes now.

It was silent for a moment, and then Bill finally spoke, "And are ya gunna?"

I shrugged, remaining silent. Bill scoffed and shook his head, making me look up at him and narrow my blue eyes again, "What?"

"You!" Bill cried, giving me an annoyed and wide eyed look, "What's the matta with ya? Yer always going 'round school, makin' everybody feel like shit, and ya can't even apologize once, even when yer motha' tells ya to. What's yer problem, eh?"

"You're my problem!" I snapped again, pointing a threatening finger at him, but he didn't even budge.

"There ya go again! Why are ya so angry all the time? Every time I see ya yer either in a fight or tryin' ta start one," Bill said, finally putting his hands in his lap and away from his busted lip.

"Maybe I'm always angry because I got the same problem you got," I replied, referring to something I've been wanting to tell someone about for a long time, but not just coming right out saying it.

"What? A thorn in yer side?" Bill asked, then his face went slack and his mouth fell open, "Oh, you do. You were once the nagged on kid too, huh? Is that why yer so mean to everyone all the time?"

I didn't reply to his question, and my silence all but answered it.

"Who woulda thought?" Bill chuckled, cracking a smile, "Yer just like me."

I glared at him again and pointed my finger back at him, "I am _not_ just like you!"

"Yes, ya are," Bill said, smiling smugly, "Admit it. Ya only go after everyone else because you need reassurin' that nobody can hurt ya, am I right?"

Wow. He was actually spot on.

"And I'm right," Bill smiled, becoming more comfortable on my couch, "Two points for Wild Bill."

"Wild Bill?" I scoffed, rolling my eyes, "Is that really what you call yourself?"

"Me and some others," Bill said, "Most people at school, actually. Surprised you've neva' heard it before, I'm quite the popular name."

I rolled my eyes again, finally cracking a smile, "Yeah, right."

Bill snickered and then we both realized what was going on and we both frowned. We just had a light hearted moment. This wasn't how I was expecting the day to go.

I sighed and looked down at my sneakered feet and started what I came in here for in the first place, "Well, listen... I'm sorry about earlier, I should've kept my mouth shut. I had no business saying what I said. So... I'm sorry."

It was quiet. I had to look up to see what his reaction was. Was he mad? Was he laughing at me? But when I caught his eyes again he was only watching me, almost curiously.

"What?" I asked, feeling awkward now.

"I think that's the first time you've ever willingly apologized fer somethin' ya did," Bill said, and I avoided his gaze once more, then he went on, "I'm sorry, too. I should've just ignored what ya said, I can be sorta bull headed too, ya know?"

I chuckled, "Yeah, that's no secret, Bill."

Bill smiled at me then he stood suddenly, holding out his hand. I raised an eyebrow at him and said, "What's this?"

"It's my hand," Bill said sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes, "No shit. I mean why do you want me to shake it?"

"Because, I feel like maybe we unda'stand each utha a little bit. We both have some of the same problems, we can relate," Bill said shrugging, "And... I feel like ya could use some friends. Yer always by yerself at school, yer never hangin' around anyone else, and-"

"I have friends," I defended, narrowing my eyes at him once more.

"Mary isn't yer friend, you guys barely talk," Bill said, and he was right, "Come on, I know ya want a friend. Shake my hand."

I looked at it outstretched, wondering what I should do.

"Come on, Matilda," He said and I cringed at the same, "I know ya secretly like me, come on."

"First, don't call me that," I said, holding up one finger, "And second..." I stared at his hand for a moment more, then I sighed, "Oh, what the hell. It wouldn't hurt to try, would it?"

Bill smiled as we shook hands, "Not one bit."  
0-0-0-0-0  
September 1942

"Alright, Mr. Tauscher, looks like everything is in order," Lieutenant Farrell said as he looked down at my papers and then looked up at me, "Welcome to the Airborne, Private."

I smiled a small smile and shook his hand, "Thank you, sir."

"You will be assigned to Easy Company of the 506th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne," He explained, setting my papers neatly on his desk, "You're training starts at 0500 hours tomorrow morning, so I'd get some rest if I were you. There's a jeep outside ready to take you to Camp Toccoa, I hope you're ready, Private. It's not easy."

"Sir," I smiled proudly, "I've never been so ready in my life."  
0-0-0-0-0  
I arrived at Camp Toccoa at 1600 hundred hours that afternoon. I was sent off to the barracks, where I currently was sitting on one of the beds after putting all of my stuff away. It was going to be hard. The training was intense, especially for a women, but I wasn't like other women. I grew up a tomboy and I always hung around boys and played tackle football and got into fistfights, I knew I could hold my own. It was disguising myself as a man that would be the struggle, but I felt I had to do this.

I was sitting there quietly, lacing my boots before I went off to the mess hall for dinner, maybe I could meet a few men before I headed off, so it wouldn't be so awkward finding a place to sit.

My prayer was answered just now as I heard someone yell, "Hang on, will ya? Let me get my stuff, yeesh."

Someone walked into the barracks and froze several steps into the room as they caught eyes with me. I smiled at the man's face and stood, and he smiled right back.

"Holy shit," He smiled, standing in the same spot and looking me over, "Ya actually fuckin' did it."

"You ever doubted me?" I asked, though it was with a playful smile.

"Not even once," He smiled, holding out his arms, "Come 'ere."

I smiled and let Bill Guarnere wrap me up in his arms, though it was a brief hug. He didn't want to any of the other men to see him hugging another guy so affectionately like this. He looked me up and down and whistled in surprise, "Wow. How'd ya manage ta do that?"

"I wrapped myself in a bandage," I said, shrugging my shoulders before casually saying, "I'm even stuffing my pants."

"Damn, yer pretty determined aren't ya," He smirked.

"Damn right I am," I replied, looking him up and down, "You look good, Bill. You even put on a few pounds. It looks good on you."

"Flirting already, Tauscher? Might want ta ease up on that, ya wouldn't want the rest of the guys gettin' any suspicions," Bill joked and I slugged him on the shoulder roughly, he rubbed his shoulder in pain, but he held the smile, "We were just goin' down ta the mess hall for some grub, wanna join us? Ya could meet some of the guys. They'll love ya."

I nodded and with a shrug of my shoulders I said, "Sure."

Bill smiled, "Alright, just wait up a minute, I gotta get my watch."

"You came back here to get your watch?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and giving him an odd look.

"Yeah," Bill said, casting a glance back at me, "Trust me, yer gunna wanna keep an eye on the time while yer here. Ya never wanna be late, or else Sobel will make you run six miles in the middle of the night."

"Your shitting me, right?" I asked, my brow furrowed and a frown now replacing my grin.

"Why would I be shittin' ya?" Bill asked, finding his watch in his bedside drawer and putting around his wrist.

"Well, it is your favorite pastime," I said with a loose shrug of my shoulders.

"Shut yer trap," Bill said, stalking towards me and putting a gentle hand on my back, leading me out the door, "Let's get goin' before we miss supper."  
0-0-0-0-0  
We were having some kind of meat smothered in gravy, peas, peaches, and a roll for dinner. We had some water to go with it. It didn't look the most appealing, but I wasn't one to complain and neither was nobody else. I followed Bill around the mess hall, staying close as he searched for the table where his friends sat and he finally smiled after seemed like they were searching forever and he said, "There they are. Come on."

I followed Bill to a table with several other men sitting at it and Bill smiled as he slid into the seat next to a red haired man, "Heyya boys, how's it goin'?"

"We just saw you twenty minutes ago," The red head responded, sort of sending an annoyed look Bill's way.

"Aw hell, Don, we're doing better than we were twenty minutes ago, we got food in our bellies now," A dark haired man across the table said.

"Fellas, I'd like ya ta meet somebody," Bill said, turning to look at me, "This is my old friend from when I was a kid. Matthew Tauscher."

He didn't even think about it, he just gave me a man's name. Luckily that was what I was already going by, it was what was on my papers and everything. That's what name I've been signing under.

I smiled charmingly and nodded curtly, "Hey fellas."

They all nodded at me and another man with dark hair said, "Why don't you sit down, Tauscher, we don't bite."

"Well, Liebgott might," The man at the end of the table said and he earned a glare from the skinny guy, who I assumed was the aforementioned Liebgott.

I did as I was told and sat down beside Bill and across from the man who asked me to sit. He looked at me almost skeptically before he asked, "So, how long you known Wild Bill, here?"

"I told ya everybody called me that," Bill said to me, and I rolled my eyes.

It's been years since he told me that and I've only heard that name a few times, causing me to call him out as a liar.

"I've known since we were in fifth grade, but we weren't friends until a few years later," I said, shrugging as I grabbed my fork, "We became friends after I kicked his ass on the playground when we were like twelve."

"I was twelve, you were thirteen and bigger than me," Bill said, defending himself from the ribbing that was to come from his friends.

"You serious?" The dark haired man on the other side of the table said, laughing a little bit, "This skinny little shit kicked _your_ ass?"

"Shut yer mouth, George, or I'll shut for ya," Bill threatened and George mocked an expression of fright then chuckled.

"Yeah, that's like sayin' Frank kicked Bull's ass, it's just not believable," The man across from me said.

I looked around at the men curiously, trying to get a good feel on them. I liked the man sitting across from me, he was chatty and seemed friendly enough. As soon as I sat down he'd included me in some conversation, that must of meant he liked me. The George character sitting next to him seemed charming, he had a handsome grin and boyish looked, he came off as one of those instantly likeable guys, and he was. I could tell he was a nice guy just by looking at him. The guy at the other end of George who had poked fun at Liebgott hadn't said enough for me to really know him, but when I glanced over at him he smiled. He seemed friendly. Then on the opposite side of the table across from him was the Liebgott guy. He seemed sort of grumpy, he hadn't smiled once since I've sat down. Maybe I just caught him in a bad mood? Next to him was the guy George called Don. He had red hair and seemed a little disgruntled about something as well, but he didn't seem as grumpy as Liebgott.

Suddenly, the man across from me cleared his throat, catching my attention. He smiled at me and said, through a mouthful of food, "Oh sorry, I forgot. I haven't even introduced ya to the men," He pointed at grumpy, "That's Joe, Liebgott and next to him with that red hair there, that's Donald Malarkey. And of course, you know Bill, and here next to me, this goofy looking fucker, this is George Luz, and next to him, that dashing young fella is Chuck Grant. And I'm Ralph Spina, the Easy medic, or one of 'em anyway. Pleased to meet you, Matt."

I smiled as he held out his hand and I shook it firmly, "Pleasures all mine. Nice to meet you guys."

They all chorused a small little welcome, and I smiled. I liked them already. Bill sure knew how to pick his friends, "Don't worry, there's a whole lot more where this came from. Just wait till you meet Muck and Hoobler, they're just as big of bull shitters as Luz here," Bill piped up.

"Hey!" Luz snapped, glaring playfully.

"It's true," Bill retorted and Luz shrugged and nodded.

"Yeah..." He then went back to eating his food.

The food wasn't actually half bad. Bill told me basic was a living hell, but at least you always had mess hall to look forward to. I didn't know what kind of meat this was on my tray, but I didn't really care or bother asking, I just ate it up. I knew before coming here that I wouldn't have time to complain, I was to do everything that was asked of me. When my superior told me to jump, I asked how high, that was how it was.

I saw the grumpy looks on both Malarkey and Joe's faces, which prompted me to ask, "What's wrong with you two?"

Everyone looked up at me, and Joe cast me a dirty look, but Grant spoke up, "They had their weekend passes revoked."

I furrowed my brow, "Why? What'd you guys do?"

"I had fucking rust on my rifle," Malarkey replied in annoyance, but it wasn't directed at me, "Can you believe that? My pass was revoked for dirt on the butt plate. It's bullshit."

"Well, they don't call you Private Bullshit for nothing," George smirked, sending a mock salute Malarkey's way.

"Shut up, Luz, your pass was revoked, too," Malarkey snapped back, glaring at George.

"At least I'm not crying about it," George replied.

"What'd you do?" I asked him, and he just shrugged.

"I had dirt on mine," George said, shoveling the remaining peaches on his tray into his mouth.

"Wow," I said, "So the drill sergeant is a pain in the ass then, huh?"

George scoffed and gazed at me with his warm eyes, "Pain in the ass is an understatement."

I chewed on some of my green beans before I looked to Liebgott, "What about you? Why was your pass revoked?"

Liebgott sent me a glare and said in a harsh tone, "I had a rusty bayonet."

"Now, now, Joe. You know in order to kill the German's there must be no inch of filth on your weapon," George said in a mothering way, "They might criticize your hygiene skills."

"George, I'm about to have Spina here sew your mouth shut," Joe snapped irritably at the funny man.

"Now Joe, what have I told you about taking that tone with me?" George asked, never breaking his mother character, then Spina smacked him on the back of the head and he promptly shut up, but he giggled like a little girl afterwards and went back to eating the remaining food on his tray, which wasn't a lot.

I just smiled and finished my food. I think I'm going to like it here.  
0-0-0-0-0  
I hate it here.

I've been here for three weeks and Sobel was a complete pain in the ass. He hated me, I was sure of it. We ran six miles everyday up a fucking hill, he wouldn't let us drink water at all throughout the entire thing. He made us go on a night march not that long ago and it was twelve miles. No water at all. One guy snuck some water, but Sobel made us pour it at the end of the march and made the poor fucker go back and run all twelve miles again by himself.

I was doing as best as I could, it was a little hard keeping my identity sometimes though. I waited till last minute to change into PT gear or I came back early so no one would see me. I had to shower when I knew I'd be alone and when we had a little time to ourselves. It was a nightmare sometimes, but it's worked out thus far. Nobody suspected a thing and the only one who knew about me was Bill. My best friend Bill. I could always count on him.

We were currently doing an obstacle course and I just witnessed Muck fall on his ass. I tried my hardest to keep the laughter contained, not wanting Sobel to get on my ass about it. So I quickly followed after Muck, hopping through the rope as best as I could. It hurt my legs like a mother fucker, but I was starting to get used to all of this exercise at this point.

I watched as Bill tripped over the rope up ahead of me and cursed to himself as he pushed himself off the ground. I made it through without falling down and was quite proud of myself for that. The next thing I knew I was crawling through a tunnel and it was dark, but I saw the light and pushed myself through, tucking and rolling and then standing and running towards the wall. I jumped and climbed over it, and I felt a hand grab ahold of mine and I looked up and saw Malarkey pulling me up and over with him. I smiled in appreciation before we both took off running again. There was some kind of barbed wire now and we had to get into a crawling position and move underneath it.

"What the hell is this?" I heard Muck ask and he and Bull rolled through what looked like raw meat.

I winced as I rolled through it right behind him and tried not to gag as I crawled through it, hearing Muck up ahead of me making noises of disgust. We finally got through the barbed wire and guts, but as I crawled out behind Muck, Liebgott right behind me, my leg got caught on the wire and I felt pain suddenly shoot up my leg. I cried out and rolled to the side, away from Liebgott so he could get through.

He looked over at me, almost in annoyance, but he asked, "You okay?"

I nodded and waved him off, trying to get him to go on, "I'm fine, go!"

He stood and ran with the rest of the men and I then heard Sobel yell, "Private Tauscher! What in God's name are you doing lying on your back?! When in war you cannot simply stop in the middle of combat!"

"I hurt my leg, sir!" I told him respectfully, though there was annoyance as well as pain in my wavering voice as blood seeped through my trousers.

Sobel looked down at my leg and saw the tear in my pants and deep cut on my leg, "God dammit... Private Grant!"

Grant suddenly shot up from behind me and approached Sobel, covered in guts and dirt, "Sir!"

"Take Private Tauscher to the Aid Station to get his leg looked at! Go!" Sobel snapped, then he moved on with yelling at the other privates.

"Yes sir," Grant said quietly now, Sobel not even hearing him. He looked down at me after he glared at Sobel and reached his hands out to me, "Come on, Mattie, let's get that leg checked out."  
0-0-0-0-0  
"Doc! We got one for ya!" Grant called as he hauled me in. The height different made it difficult. He couldn't simply wrap my arm over his shoulders, he was nearly six foot and I was barely 5'3. I was the shortest one in the company, Perco was even two inches taller than me. So Grant had me wrap my arm around his middle as he supported me under my arms on the walk here.

I heard footsteps coming towards us as I limped into the Aid Station and I heard a deep, but soft voice say, "Set him here."

Grant helped me over to a cot and I sat down, feeling relief wash over me as I had pressure off my leg that was still stinging like hell. The medic approached me and then I heard him say, "You can go on, Grant. I've got it from here."

"Alright Doc," Grant said, making me look over at him; he offered me a kind smile and a pat on the shoulder, "You better heal fast, Mattie, you're the only one who gets my ass movin' out there."

"Not even Sobel can your skinny little ass running?" I asked and Grant smiled.

"You're just scarier," Grant said.

"Wow, scarier than Sobel, that's rare," I said, then nodded curtly, "I kind of like it."

Grant chuckled, "I'll see ya later, Mattie. I better get back before the drill's over or else I won't have an ass for you to get movin'."

I chuckled and waved him off, "Then go on then."

Grant waved at me before he left the Aid Station and I then turned my attention down to my leg that was still bleeding. It probably wasn't as bad as it looked, but it sure did hurt like a mother fucker.

"So, what do you think, Doc? Is it bad?" I asked, trying to keep things light.

"I dunno. Lemmie take a look," Doc said, leaning down to inspect my leg, grabbing at the whole in my trousers and ripping it open. Luckily the cut was on my calf and not my thigh, because then he would've been awfully close to knowing my secret.

I kept my gaze down on my leg as he gently prodded at my leg, his hard gaze concentrated. Then he stood and went for the table, grabbing some things. I finally looked up at his face and I was awe struck by what I saw. He had hair as dark as the night sky, and his eyes were so warm and welcoming. The concentrated expression on his face made him look like a softer soul. His skin was pale too, which made his dark hair stand out even more. I've never seen hair so dark.

When he touched my leg with a cold, wet cloth is when I looked away. My expression went to angry very quickly as the pain shot up my leg and I glared down at the medic who was knelt down, tending to my injury.

"Jesus Christ! Is it supposed to hurt this bad?!" I asked, glaring at the medic who didn't even flinch at my outburst.

"It's a deep wound. Probably needs stitches," He said in his soft, soothing voice.

"Stitches? I just cut it on a barbed wire," I said, "It didn't feel _that_ bad."

He shrugged and stood again, going for something else on the table next to the cot, "Well, from the way you just reacted, it _does_ feel that bad."

I rolled my eyes, "No need to be a wise ass, Doc."

He ignored me and looked back down at my injury, preparing to clean it with something else other than water. He cast his warm gaze up towards me and said, "This may hurt a little. Why don't you talk about somethin' to get your mind off the pain?"

"Okay," I said as he got ready, "Um... Where's that accent from? I've never heard it before."

He began to clean my wound, and I grit my teeth and flinched at the contact against my mangled flesh. He replied to my question calmly, "I'm from Louisiana. Half Cajun."

"Cajun huh?" I asked, flinching every now and again he continued dabbing at the area around the cut, "I'm not quite sure I really know what that is, Doc. Care to explain?"

I really just wanted to hear his voice. It was relaxing just to listen to.

"Cajun's are descendants of French Canadians. They mostly live in South Louisiana, which is where I'm from," Doc explained, "There's not really much to say, we're just average people like you and Private Grant."

"I don't know, you seem kind of mellow," I said to him as I watched him clean my wound, the pain getting a little better now, but it still hurt like hell, "I'm from Philly, and all I remember back there is getting into fights and people trying to start them."

Doc finally smiled and the sight alone made my heart swell. It was soft against his features, it suited him, "Bein' mellow is not a Cajun thing, that's just a me thing."

"There's a fuckin' war going on in Japan and Europe and you're just sitting here all relaxed and calm as a clam," I remarked with a smile, "I wish I were more like you."

Doc shook his head, "No you don't."

Then he stood and set the bloody rag on the tray on the table, reaching for the stitches now. I furrowed my brow at him, "Why not?"

He just shrugged and didn't really answer my question, "You just don't."

I just tried to brush it off. I could tell he was a bit weird. He hasn't looked me in the eye but once this entire visit, and some of the things he was saying was a bit odd. But I didn't look into it all that much, some people were just different.

"So what's it like in Philadelphia?" Doc asked me as he knelt back down in front of my leg, "Spina and Guarnere are always goin' on 'bout how great life is up there."

"Philly is only the best damn city in the States," I told him proudly with a smile, and he smiled a little at that, working on my leg, "It's great. The people are unique, the food is good, the music is loud. It's great."

"Does it snow up there?" Doc asked, and I thought it was a bit of a random question, but I shrugged and nodded, "Yeah, every winter."

Doc nodded his head a little and then said, "I've never seen snow before."

I found that unbelievable.

"What? You've never seen snow before? Not once in your entire life?" I asked and he nodded.

"I live in Louisiana, I don't think it's eva' snowed there," He told me, his face showing that concentrated look again.

"Well then, Doc, it's settled," I started, looking up at the ceiling now, "After this fucking war is over, I'm taking you up north and you're seeing you some fucking snow."

Doc smiled a little wider at that and grabbed a pair of scissors, snipping at something on my leg, "Private Tauscher, you don't even know my name yet and you're already invitin' me to your home city."

"You've made a good first impression," I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

He smiled and placed his scissors down just then, sitting back a little as he examined his handy work, "I'm finished."

My eyebrows shot to my hairline at that, "What? You're finished? You put the stitches in and everything?"

"Yep," Doc said as he stood and started putting his things away.

I was surprised.

"Wow Doc, that's amazing," I complimented.

He seemed confused and he looked at me for the second time, "What is?"

We caught eyes and I was absolutely taken away by his warm gaze. I loved his eyes. I smiled and looked down at my leg briefly before I looked back at him and said, "I didn't even feel you putting the stitches in. There was no pain at all. You've got a gift."

Doc broke eye contact and shook his head, "No. I just distracted you with the conversation, that's all."

I shook my head though, "Your touch is gentle, and... It calms people. You've got a gift, Doc. That's why they picked you as a medic."

He was silent at this and he averted my gaze once more. I watched as he fiddled with his medical instruments, as if he didn't know what to do in this moment. I just smiled and pushed myself off the cot, making sure to be gentle when I got to my feet, "Well, thanks Doc. I guess I'll see you around."

He nodded, but he remained silent.

I started towards the door, but I stopped in the doorway, turning back to look at him, "Oh! I almost forgot, I never got your name."

He looked up at me, seeming a little distracted, but then he said, "Eugene. Eugene Roe."

I smiled and nodded curtly at him, "Well, it's nice to meet you, Eugene Roe."

"It's nice to meet you, too, Private Tauscher," He said, giving me a short nod and averting my eyes still.

I smiled at his awkwardness.

"Don't think I haven't seen you in the barracks," I said to him with a teasing smile, "You should socialize more, the men would like you."

Eugene nodded and looked down at his hands, picking at his fingernails, "Okay, maybe I will."

I kept my smile present, "Good. I'll see you around then?"

He nodded, "Yeah. See ya 'round."

Then I left Eugene Roe to go back to his business. What an odd character he was. But I liked him, I liked him a lot. Maybe a little too much.

This could spell trouble. 


	2. Down

A/N - This is going well, I think. I really like the way this is turning out. I hope you guys do, too. Please R&R.

Disclaimer - This is done for entertainment purposes only, I have nothing but respect for the men who fought in the second world war. I own nothing but Matilda.

0-0-0-0-0

"You needed stitches and everything?" Chuck Grant asked, peering down at my bandaged leg in surprise, "Jeez, I didn't know it was that bad."

I shrugged and peered down my leg myself, "Neither did I."

"You've already been wounded and we haven't jumped out of an airplane yet," George Luz said as he took off his boots and prepared to relax for the rest of the evening, "Could only happen to you, Matt."

"Can it, Luz," I snapped, and he just laughed as he set one boot to the side.

"Don't worry, Matt, I'm pretty sure I sprained my ankle after falling on my ass hopping through that rope," Muck said, putting ice on his ankle as he laid back on his bed.

"See, I'm not the only one," I said, motioning to Muck.

"Muck's one unlucky son of a bitch, don't you know?" Luz smiled, looking over at me with his charming gaze, "He's always falling down and hurtin' himself. It's in his nature."

"Luz, is it your daily goal to have somebody hit you?" Muck asked, glaring over at Luz irritably.

Luz sent Muck a fake pout, "I thought this was charming?"

Muck scoffed and rolled his eyes, and I did the same as Luz just smiled and peeled his sweaty PT shirt off. I quickly averted my eyes, not wanting to look at him or any of the other men who were doing the same thing, afraid I might blush at such a sight and then I'd get constant teasing.

"The only thing charming about you Luz is your ability to be a complete moron," I remarked, unlacing my boots now, "Dumb girls into that."

Some of the other guys snickered at that and George only smiled, "What would we do without you, Tauscher."

"You'd become bored out of your mind from the lack of humor around here," I said, taking off my other boot now, "Cause God knows you've got nothing to offer."

"Jeez," Muck whistled, peering over at Luz, "He's two for two on the night."

Luz finally got a clean shirt over his head and he stretched his arms over his head, "Well, it's only because he needs to cover up that he's actually more of a woman on the inside than he is a man."

I froze a little bit at that remark, but quickly recovered, realizing he was only joking, "Luz, seriously, I'm about to rip out your tongue."

"Ouch. Harsh," George said, narrowing his eyes at me playfully, "I think you're startin' to get a little grouchy, why don't you go on off to bed? Lord knows if you don't get your sleep you're a complete asshole."

"Takes one to know one, Luz," I replied, but I also nodded in agreement. I was extremely tired, I guess turning in a little early wouldn't hurt nobody. We were finished with our drills for the day, apparently Sobel had something he needed to take care of with Lieutenant Winters, "But you're right, I'll hit the hay a little early tonight. I'm beat."

"You're beat? You didn't run Currahee today, you lazy shit," Malarkey suddenly spoke up as he walked into the barracks.

"Hey, Private Bullshit," I called out, fondly using the nickname Sobel has been calling him by, "I was injured, remember?"

"Didn't stop Muck," Malarkey replied, but I just sent him an annoyed glare.

"Muck wasn't bleeding all over his damn trousers," I snapped back, subconsciously rubbing my wounded leg.

Malarkey held up his hands in defense of my harsh tone, "Alright, alright, no need to get all bent out of shape about it, I was just kiddin' around, jeez... I think George is right, you should get some sleep. You're an asshole when you're tired."

I rolled my eyes, "Well, I could get some sleep if all you idiots would shut up for five minutes."

"Alright, fine," George said, playfully glaring at me, "We'll shut up. I think I might actually turn in early myself."

"Yeah, me too," Muck said, stretching, "I think Sobel had something up his ass today."

"He doesn't everyday?" I remarked and George smiled, Muck just shrugging in agreement.

"Alright, you crybabies," Malarkey said, going over to his footlocker, "Get some sleep, I'm going out."

"Where are you going?" Chuck asked, raised an eyebrow.

"It's Saturday, boys," Malarkey said with a smile, "We don't got no drills tomorrow, so I'm going out and I'm getting good and drunk."

"I'm in," Chuck said, standing from where he was on his bed and going to his footlocker too, looking for his dress uniform.

"It'd be real funny if Sobel came in at five o'clock tomorrow morning, and woke you two asshats up," I said, laying back on my bed and putting my arms behind my head, closing my eyes.

Chuck and Malarkey shared an amused look and then looked back to me, Chuck saying, "Asshats?"

I smirked, but didn't open my eyes to look at them, "Yeah, I came up with it just now."

Chuck nodded in approval, smirking a tight lipped grin, "It's good. That's funny."

"Thank you, Chucky," I said to him as I heard the two boys go through their foot locker.

I heard the two mumbling about something, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. I kept my eyes closed and slowly drifted off into a nice and well deserved sleep.  
0-0-0-0-0  
One week later, we all sat in the mess hall, eating spaghetti. It wasn't great, but I had gotten used to Army food by now. I was shoveling the food into my mouth quickly, enjoying my meal. I was sitting at the table with Bill and Perconte, and Frank was just complaining up a storm.

"This stuff is orange," One of the other men said, looking down at his noodles in what seemed like disgust, "Spaghetti ain't supposed to be orange."

"This ain't spaghetti," Frank said with a shrug of his shoulders, a noodle hanging out of his mouth, "It's army noodles with ketchup."

"You ain't gotta eat it," Bill said as he sat down next to Frank as I remained silent, just watching on in amusement.

"Oh, come on, Gonorrhea," Frank said, looking down at his plate, "As a fellow Italian you should know that calling this crap spaghetti is a mortal sin."

I snickered and shoved another forkful into my mouth as Hoobler reached over from the table behind Frank and tried taking his plate, "You don't want it, I'll have it."

"No, no, I'm eating here," Frank defended, elbowing Hoobler away.

"Hey, get outta here," Bill said, elbowing the man as well and sending him a sharp glare.

"Spaghetti don't taste so bad now then, does it, Frank?" I asked with a smirk and he just glared at me.

"Shut up," He said and I snickered again, shoveling more food into my mouth.

A whistle blew and it alarmed pretty much everybody in the mess hall. We all looked up, spaghetti noodles hanging from some of our mouths as Captain Herbert Sobel marched into the room, a look of pure determination and pride on his face. I wanted to smack him so bad at the words that came out of his mouth.

"Get up!" He cried and everybody stood at attention, "Passes are cancelled! Easy Company is running up Currahee! Move! Move!"

Bill slumped his shoulders and shot me a look that said 'really?'. I sighed through my nose and finished chewing the food that was in my mouth as Easy quickly filed out of the mess hall. Sobel yelled behind us, "Three miles up, three miles down! Hi ho silver!"  
0-0-0-0-0  
Hoobler was throwing up already, sweat making his dark hair stick to his forehead. Sobel was right behind him, yelling insults into his ear, "You're a washout, Private Hoobler! You should pack up those ears and go home!"

I so badly wanted to smack this man in the face, maybe even sock him in the jaw. But I didn't feel like being sent home and dishonorably discharged, so I sucked up my anger and continued to run, trying to avoid Sobel's angry glare he sent my way.

The man hated me. It must of been because I was the smallest of the Easy men, he thought I was too weak to be cut out for the Army. He's told me I should of joined the nurses at the hospitals instead, I would've been of better use there with all the 'other' women.

I swallowed thickly as another wave of nausea washed over me, trying my best to keep the contents on my stomach down. It was becoming increasingly difficult.

"Private Randleman, you look tired!" Sobel yelled in the large man's ear, "There's an ambulance waiting for you at the bottom of the hill! It could all be over right now! No more pain! No more Currahee! No more Captain Sobel!"

I spit onto the side of the path, getting the foul taste out of my mouth as I tried not to vomit. Sobel saw me spit and ran over to run beside me, "What's the matter, Private Tauscher?! Are your weak muscles and brittle bones starting to get the best of you?! Maybe you should join the rest of the women down at the local hospital! God knows they need some more nurses!"

"We pull upon the risers, we fall upon the grass," George started to sing in reply to Sobel's constant yelling. I guess he was getting just as tired of it as I was; a few more of the men joined in on his singing, "We never land upon our feet we always hit our ass."

"Highty tighty, Christ o'mighty, who the hell are we?" Most of the men sang, and I joined in on the last verse, singing right into Sobel's ear, "Zim zam, God damn, we're Airborne Infantry."

We repeated the song as we continued down the path, leaving Captain Sobel behind, watching us with incredible disbelief. I tried to hide the smile at the look on his face, but once we were past him, it broke across my face. I cast a glance to Frank who was running next to me, looking exhausted himself, but he smiled at me as well and then we both turned our attention back to the front of us, continuing our run down Currahee and going on with singing the song that somehow incapacitated Sobel.  
0-0-0-0-0  
I was throwing up horribly right outside the barracks, Hoobler was behind me, patting my back awkwardly, trying to help out as Grant stood next to him, holding a towel.

"You alright, Mattie?" Grant asked, looking down at me in concern.

I spit on the ground and then angrily got out, "I hate that son of bitch."

"Don't we all?" Bill's voice suddenly spoke as he walked up behind us.

I peered up at him, drool hanging from my mouth, my skin extremely pale, sweat coating my forehead, and my eyes looking tired.

"Jesus, ya look like shit," Bill said, wiping his own forehead of sweat, "That run really got ta ya, huh?"

"Don't worry, Matt, I was pretty confident I wasn't going to make it down that hill today," Hoobler said, giving me a sympathetic look, "But good 'ol Georgey Luz knows how to put the spirit back in a man."

George did help us all through that run. The way he started singing at the right time, and the look on Captain Sobel's face... That was enough for us all to make it down that hill in one piece.

I gagged again and heaved and then I threw up once again. Hoobler patted my back supportively, but he watched me with disgust, "Are you going to be okay?" He asked.

I flapped my hand around and caught my breath, spitting on the ground again, "I'll be fine."

My voice sounded strained and tired, I looked like hell. Bill shook his head and grabbed my arm, pulling me into a standing position, though I was so tired I was practically hunched over. When Bill saw my face he gave me sympathetic, but mostly annoyed look.

"Jesus Christ, Matt. I think ya should go ta a hospital," Bill told me, his protectiveness for me coming out a little bit.

I shook my head and swallowed thickly, wincing at the pain in my belly, "I'm fine, Bill. I'm just sick from the spaghetti, that's all. I'll be fine in the-"

Then I heaved and threw up again, right on Bill's boots.

"God dammit!" He cried, throwing his arms up, "That's it! I'm going ta go and talk ta Lieutenant Winters about gettin' ya ta a doctor."

I shook my head and tightened my grip of Bill's arm, "No, Bill! I'm fine, just... Just let me get my bearings and then... And then I can, I can..."

"Ya can't even string a sentence togetha'," Bill said, shaking his head.

"I'm just tired, is all," I protested further and Bill glared at me.

"This is gettin' on my nerves," Bill said, grabbing my arm and hoisting me up again, "Will ya at least go and see Doc?"

I nodded, "Fine, if it makes you happy. Just don't take me to a hospital, I'm not that sick."

Bill nodded and looked up at the boys, Grant speaking up, "You need some help, Gonorrhea?"

Bill shook his head, "No, I've got him."

Grant nodded and then looked down at me, "Hurry up and get better there, Mattie. We need you around getting our asses motivated. Luz needs a little help sometimes, he can't do it all on his own."

I nodded, "I'll try, Chuck."

"Get better," Hoobler said, giving me a smack on the back as I went past with Bill.

Bill walked me to the path and we started towards the Aid Station. I was stumbling along, just wanting to sleep at this moment, the nausea still hanging around. I sighed in sleepiness as me and Bill went along down the path, I was leaning heavily against him.

Bill kept sending me cautious looks, making sure I wasn't going to throw up on him again. He looked down at his boots and groaned irritably, "Jesus... Sobel's prob'ly gunna revoke my weekend pass 'cause ya threw up on my boots."

"I'm sorry, Bill," I said tiredly, trying to keep my eyes open.

He gave me a look, seeming almost worried for me. He put a hand to my forehead and then pulled it back, sucking in a sharp breath through his teeth, "Jeez, yer burnin' up. What the hell happened? Ya were fine earlier."

"I guess spaghetti mixed with running six miles sent me into this God awful sickness," I complained, though I was trying to come off as joking, but my voice was too strained for it to sound that way. I winced as another bout of pain soured through my stomach, making me place a hand there, "God... You think Doc has anything to help with this?"

"Prob'ly," Bill nodded, "Doc's always got somethin' ta help. He neva' lets ya down, that's the kinda guy he is."

"Why doesn't he run Currahee with us all the time?" I asked curiously, stumbling alongside my best friend.

"Cause they want him ta focus more on his medical studies than combat related things," Bill shrugged, "I mean, he has ta run sometimes, like he did earlier, because he'll be doin' a lot a that when we finally go ta Europe, but they want ta know what the hell he's doin' too. We don't need no fluke medic out there on the field when people are bleedin' out, you know?"

I nodded in understanding, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"I'm Bill Guarnere," Bill smiled cockily, looking down at me, "I'm always right."

I finally cocked a smile and weakly smacked at his arm, "You're also an idiot."

"It rubbed off on me from hangin' round you so much as a kid," Bill joked, nudging me with his elbow, and I smiled.

"Shut up," I smiled, trying my best to walk with him, easing up the weight on his shoulder.

We walked on in silence for the rest of the way, neither of us having much to say. Bill did pipe up once about how I needed a haircut, my hair had begun to cover my ears. It usually didn't, I usually kept it pretty well kempt, but with all the running we did today it had become a mess.

We finally made it to the Aid Station, thank God, and Bill walked me into the room quickly, calling out, "Doc! We got one for ya!"

Ralph Spina looked up from where he was fiddling with something in a box, and he smiled at Bill when he saw him, "Whatcha got, Bill?" Then he saw me leaning against his tiredly and he frowned, "Jesus. Ya a'right, kid?"

I waved him off, "I'm fine, Ralph, just feeling a bit ill."

He watched me cautiously and then he moved forward to help Bill, "Here, let me have him."

Bill carefully handed me off to Ralph and I felt Ralph's gentle hands on my shoulders as he led me to a cot. I sat down immediately, feeling relieved to me off my feet and I sighed as I relaxed against the cot.

"What happened?" I heard Ralph ask Bill as I closed my eyes, just wanting to get some rest.

"He's been gettin' sick ever since we all ran Currahee earlier," Bill explained, "He's runnin' a fever an' everything. I think he's comin' down with somethin'."

Ralph nodded and looked back at me with a concerned frown, "Alright. I'll take a look, see what I can do for the kid."

Bill nodded, "Alright, thanks Spina," Bill looked over Ralph's shoulder at me and offered me a smile, "You better not be too sick to start that jump trainin' tomorrow."

I smiled and waved him off, "If you ever leave me alone and I can get some sleep, maybe I will be."

"A'right, a'right, I'm goin'," Bill said, waving to me then looking to Ralph, "See ya round, Spina."

"See ya, Bill," Then Bill left the Aid Station and headed back to the barracks to be with the other men, and probably to clean off his boots.

Ralph came back over to me and I felt him put a hand to my forehead, making me open my eyes. He looked at me with concern as he pulled his hand away, "You are runnin' a fever."

"Just get me something to help with this throwing up, Ralph," I pleaded, just wanting to lay down and take a nap.

Ralph nodded and looked towards the shelf behind him on the wall, "Well, let's see here," He walked over to the shelf and searched for some medicine, pulling down several bottles and looking at the labels, he put several of them back and then brought one of them over to me, "This should do the trick."

"What is it?" I asked curiously, gazing at the white bottle with the yellow label.

"It'll help with the nausea," Ralph explained, "Maybe even with the fever. It don't hurt to try, eh?"

I shrugged, "I guess not."

Ralph then opened a drawer to his right and searched around for something, then he pulled out a spoon and opened the lid to the medicine. I winced as he poured out the liquid onto the spoon.

"Ugh, it's a liquid?" I complained. I always preferred pills over liquid, they never made me gag.

"Yep. Sorry," Ralph said, put the bottle down and looking up into my eyes.

"Why is it brown?" I asked him in disgust.

Ralph looked down at it and shrugged, "I guess all those doctors just wanna warn ya how unappealing the taste is going ta be, ta prepare ya."

I sighed as he nudged the spoon towards me, "Open up."

I mentally prepared myself and then did as he told me and he shoved the foul tasting medicine into my mouth. I swallowed it quickly and sputtered and coughed. That might of been the worst tasting shit I've ever tasted.

"Jesus Christ!" I coughed, wincing and shivering at the taste.

Ralph looked curiously at the label and hummed, "It says it's supposed to taste like chocolate."

"Bullshit!" I snapped, trying to figure out what to do. Do I spit, ask for water? "That shit tastes like the bottom of Muck's shoe, and who knows where the hell he's been!"

Ralph chuckled and screwed the top back onto the medicine before he said, "Well, that woke you right up."

"You think?!" I cried, wiping my eyes of tears as the foul taste refused to leave me be.

Ralph went back to put the medicine on the shelf, and when he came back over to me, he sat down on a stool and grabbed my leg. I furrowed my brow at him curiously, wondering what it was he was doing.

"What the hell are you doing now?" I asked him, wiping my mouth with my sleeve.

"I told Doc that when I saw ya next I'd check yer stitches," Ralph explained, looking down at my leg, "They look good, no redness around the area at all. Won't be long and we can prob'ly take them out."

"Well, that's good," I said, gazing down as he prodded at my leg with gentle hands, my eyes tired.

"That's real good," Ralph said, then he was quiet for a moment.

I looked around for a moment, wondering where Doc was. He was usually here. Maybe he'd gone to take a shower after running up Currahee. Before I had time to ask Ralph about it, he spoke up.

"So how long ya gunna keep this up?" Ralph asked, garnering my attention back to him. He still wasn't looking up at me, he was just examining my leg with the upmost concentration on his face.

I furrowed my brow curiously at him, "Keep what up?"

Ralph looked up at me now, giving me a look of disbelief, "You know what."

I was confused, so I chuckled nervously, trying to figure out what he was going on about, "Ralph, what the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking 'bout yer masqueradin', Matt" Ralph said and I froze, suddenly feeling scared and nervous, "What is yer real name anyway?"

I gulped nervously and without a response to Ralph, he looked up at me and saw the look on my face. He then smiled a small smile to reassure me, "Don't worry. I ain't gunna tell nobody."

I found that hard to believe, I don't know why.

"So, what is it then?" Ralph asked, "Tammy? Lily? Martha?" Ralph then eyes me curiously and a moment later he shook his head, "Neh, ya don't look like a Martha."

"It's-" I swallowed thickly, not sure what to do; my fingers were gripping the edge of the cot so tightly my knuckles were white, "It's Matilda."

"Matilda," Ralph said, testing the way it sounded on his tongue, then he smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I can see that. So what made ya want ta join the paratroopers? I am assumin' that's why yer doin' all of this."

He was so casual about this, as if it didn't even faze him.

"You can't tell anybody, Ralph! They'd kick me out!" I suddenly cried, trying to stand, but a wave of dizziness washed over and caused me to sit right back down.

"Relax, I ain't gunna tell nobody," Ralph said, sending me a look as if I were crazy, "I like ya, why would I wanna get rid of ya so soon?"

"How'd you find out?" I asked quickly, not giving him any time to prepare for it.

He looked at me for a moment, then he simply said, "The utha day I was walking back ta the barracks because I put on the wrong damn boots, and I saw 'adjusting' in the mirror."

I blushed at his implication and closed my eyes, throwing my head in my hands, "Oh my God."

Ralph laughed at me and relaxed in his seat, "Don't worry, I didn't see nothing. It really didn't surprise me all that much, ta be honest. You've always been a little feminine for a guy."

"Does anybody else know?" I asked him, finally peering at through my fingers.

Ralph shrugged, "Well, Bill I'm assumin'."

I nodded, "Well, of course Bill knows, we've been best friends since we were in middle school. I mean other than him."

Ralph pursed his lips then shook his head, "No, I don't think so."

"Good," I said, sighing in relief.

"So, are ya gunna answer my question?" Ralph asked me.

"What question?" I asked him curiously.

"Why'd ya wanna join the paratroopers?" He asked, looking at me calmly. There was no shock, surprise, anger, nothing on his face. He seemed fine with all of this, and I thanked God for that.

I shrugged, "I don't know... I wanted to help out, and this is where Bill was going, so... I just signed up, I guess."

Ralph scoffed and nodded, "Just like that? Man, yer just like everyone else. And here I thought ya had some deep, inspirational story."

I rolled my eyes, "We don't all come from slum beginnings."

"Yeah, I guess," Ralph said, then he smiled, "Well... I'm glad yer here, Matt, or... Matilda. Tilda?"

"Just call me Matt, Ralph," I said to him and he smiled.

"Alright then," He responded, then he looked up at the clock, "Ya should probably get goin'. Ya wouldn't wanna be out of the barracks when Sobel comes by."

I yawned and shook my head, "Can't I just stay here for a little while? It's four o'clock and I'm sick, I'm sure I can stick around for just a while longer."

Ralph sighed and watched the clock for a moment more, "Fine, but I'm wakin' ya up in about an hour, so ya better get sleepin' now."

"Yes sir, Private Spina, sir," I mock saluted him, though it was weak with fatigue.

Ralph rolled his eyes, "Wise ass."

I snickered and yawned again as Ralph stood and went back to working on what he was working on when I came in. I just laid back on the cot and went off to sleep.  
0-0-0-0-0  
I felt somebody poking me in the ribs, and that's what brought me out of my slumber. I groaned irritably and swatted at the hand, mumbling something incoherent even to my ears. The poking didn't stop though, and I said swatted at them so more, and eventually it got annoying.

"Dammit Ralph, fuck off, I'm trying to sleep here," I complained, still swatting at him and keeping my eyes shut.

The person cleared there throat and I could tell that was not Ralph. I snapped open my blue eyes and rolled onto my back, looking up to see who was there with me and I was met with a pair of blue-black eyes. Doc Roe.

I sat up quickly, which was a bad idea on my part, and I swayed when I sat up. I felt a pair of gentle hands on me, one on my shoulder and then other on my back. His touch was as soft as a feather, but at the same time, firm for comfort. He was truly made for this job.

After I regained focus, and muttered out a jumbled, "Thanks..."

The hands were gone and I suddenly felt cold. I looked up and caught eyes with him again and he was watching me with concern, his brow furrowed almost nervously.

"Are you okay?" He asked in his deep accent.

I nodded and ran a trembling hand across my forehead, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just sat up too quick, is all."

"The spaghetti made you sick too, huh?" He asked me, offering me a small smirk that was barely visible on his thin pink lips.

I furrowed my brow curiously at him, "You're sick too?"

He shook his head and averted my gaze briefly, "No. Penkala came in lookin' for medicine for his nausea."

"That gross brown stuff?" I questioned and Eugene nodded.

"That's the one," He replied, still smirking.

I ran a hand across my forehead and Eugene watched me in concern, his smile fading back to his usual frown. He then quickly put his hand to my forehead to feel for a fever, and his touch made me freeze. He was so warm, I so badly wanted to lean into his touch, but I resisted.

"It ain't so bad no more," He said, "Spina told me you were runnin' a high fever earlier, but it's almost back to normal now."

"Then why do I feel like such shit?" I asked him in annoyance as he dropped his hand from my head.

"Because you're sweatin' the fever out," He explained, "At this rate, you should be better by the mornin'."

"Well, at least I'll be well for jump training then," I smiled. I was actually excited to jump out of an airplane, it seemed so cool in my head. Who knows what it was actually like though. It could be terrifying.

"That you will be," Eugene said, offering me that small smirk once again.

I looked up at the clock and saw it was nearly seven, which caused my eyes to nearly pop out of my head, "Shit! I slept way too long! I got to get back to the barracks!"

I tried to stand and get out of there before Sobel got my ass for this, but Eugene pushed me back down onto the cot by putting his hand on my chest. He didn't know what he was really doing, as he was under the understanding that I was a man. But me, knowing that I was in fact a woman with certain things in the area he was currently touching, it made me freeze and a blush creep up my neck, making my whole face red.

He furrowed his brow at this, "You okay, Tauscher?"

I swallowed thickly and nodded, his hand still on my chest, "Fine. I'm just... A little warm."

He gazed at me in concern for a moment longer, then he dropped his hand from my chest and looked me in the eyes. I released a tense breath as he spoke again, "I let you sleep in. Spina told Lieutenant Winters what had happened and he told Captain Sobel, so everythin' is under control, don't you worry."

I released another sigh, but this time in relief, "So I'm not in trouble?"

Eugene shook his head, "You shouldn't be."

"Thank God," I said, slumping my shoulders, "Lord knows that man already hates me."

"Lord knows that man hates everybody," Eugene remarked, and it sort of made me chuckle, which seemed to surprise him, "What?"

I shook my head, "Nothing."

He looked at me curiously, but moved on, deciding to fret over what just happened, "How you feeling now that you've been sittin' up for a few minutes?"

I sat there for a moment, thinking about it, trying to see how I felt. Then I nodded, "Okay, actually."

Eugene smiled and said, "Good."

"That shit flavored medicine works wonders, Doc," I joked and he scoffed a little at that.

God, he was cute when he smiled.

No. Focus, Maddie. You're a paratrooper, you're here so you can win this war, you're not here to fraternize.

"Well," I said, releasing a tense breath, "I should probably get going, anyway. The boys are probably suffering through Luz's awful jokes, they're going to need rescuing."

I started to stand, but then Eugene grabbed me by the arm, "Wait."

I turned to look at him, my brow furrowed curiously, "What is it?"

"Well, uh..." He released my arm and cleared his throat, almost nervously, "Spina sort of left me here to sort through the supplies all by myself, and I was kinda wonderin' if you could, uh... Well, since you're already here, maybe you could help me."

I looked around at the small Aid Station and then looked back to Eugene. He was so awkward, but somehow he could also be quite intimidating. Must be the eyes. His dark, beautiful eyes.

I shrugged and shot him a small smile, "Sure, why not."

Eugene then smiled back at me and slumped his shoulders in relief, then he turned and directed me to one of the shelves where he kept several boxes of supplies that needed sorting.  
0-0-0-0-0  
"So do you feel ready to become paratroopers?" Our jump training Sergeant asked us and we all chorused with a. "Yes Sergeant!"

It had been several weeks of us jumping off of several foot podiums, learning the correct technique, learning about how the parachute worked, learning how to pack it. It'd been hard, but we were finally here, ready for our first jump, preparing for it.

"This will be the first of five exits from a C-47 aircraft scheduled for today," The Sergeant told us, "After successful completion of your fifth and final jump, you'll be certified army paratroopers."

I had to jump out of an aircraft five times to get my jump wings. I remember back a few weeks ago being excited for this moment, thinking it'd be the greatest thing I'd ever experience in my life. It'd be fun. But now I was scared, my heart was beating a hundred miles a minute and my palms were sweaty with the nerves.

"There will be a lot of men jumping from the sky today. Hopefully, under deployed canopies," The Sergeant said, almost through a laugh, "Jumping from one thousand feet AGL, in sticks of twelve jumpers per aircraft. All you have to do is remember what you were taught, and I guarantee you gravity will take care of the rest. And gentlemen, rest assured, any refusals on the aircraft or at the door, and I guarantee you, you will be out of the Airborne."

He went over the procedure one more time, just for good measure, and then he wished us good luck and we boarded the airplane. I sat on the plane between George Luz and Ralph Spina, Bill had been on a different plane with Frank, Bull Randleman, and Doc.

I was nervous, my feet were shaking in my boots. George seemed nervous too, he was chewing on his bottom lip. Ralph was just sitting there, tapping his foot, but I couldn't tell if it was because he was nervous or just because he was naturally twitchy. Ralph was never nervous, not for anything. He didn't mind running up Currahee, he never threw up or even gagged when we ate that spaghetti, and he never flinched under Captain Sobel. I was convinced Ralph Spina wasn't human.

The green light came on and the guy at the front yelled, "Stand up!"

This was it. This was the moment I've been waiting for since I got here. I stood up with the rest of the men as the guy up front yelled, "Hook up!"

We all hooked up to the static line and he yelled, "Equipment check!"

I heard people yelling that they were okay, and then it approached a few behind me, "Six okay! Five okay! Four okay!" Most people were patting the man in front of them on the shoulder, but not Ralph Spina. I felt his hand smack me on the ass, and I would've glared at him and socked him in the jaw if we weren't about to jump out of an airplane.

I smacked George on the arm after I shouted, "Two okay!"

And then George yelled, "One okay!"

"Stand in the door!" The man yelled and George approached the door, standing there and looking out, trying to be confident, then the man yelled, "Go! Go! Go!"

George released a tense breath, closed his eyes briefly, then sucked in a sharp breath before he jumped out the door, his chute opening almost immediately after he was out. Now it was my turn. I approached the door as the man continued yelling go into my ear. I didn't even have time to think, I just stepped out of the door and the next thing I knew I was free falling.

I don't remember the moment I stepped out of the plane. I was on the plane one minute, and the next I'm floating towards the ground. I must of blinked. My chute opened and I was floating down gently, this was better than I had imagined it would be. I actually started smiling as I came closer to the ground, it was so pretty from up here. Everything was.

The next thing I knew my feet hit the ground and I tucked and rolled before I stood quickly and grabbed at my parachute, winding it up and holding it in my arms, still smiling.

I was ready to do that another four times.


	3. This Is Home

A/N - What's up? I got a follower! Thank you! I was so happy to see that when I woke up the other morning. :) I hope you're enjoying this so far, I know I'm enjoying writing it. I don't like this chapter all that much, but meh! Whatcha gunna do? Anyway, here's chapter three, hope you enjoy it and please, please, PLEASE R&R! Please! Thank you and enjoy.

Disclaimer - I do not own BoB or any of it's contents, just the OC's. I do not have any disrespect for the men that fought in WWII, this is purely for entertainment purposes only.

0-0-0-0-0

"One thousand! Two thousand! Three thousand! Four thousand! Five thousand! Six thousand! Seven thousand! Eight thousand!" Everyone cheered as Bill slammed his glass back down on the table and smiled, his jump wings in between his teeth.

"Hi ho, silver!" Bill called then he laughed along with the rest of the table.

I rolled my eyes as I stood next to George Luz at the bar, watching as Toye sat down on the other side, an empty glass in his hand. George walked up to him, doing his Sobel impersonation, "Corporal Toye, there will be no leaning in my company," George said, leaning against the bar now, getting in Joe's face, "Is that dust on your jump wings? How do you expect to slay the Huns with dust on your jump wings?"

"Luz," Joe said, grabbing George by his tie in a threatening manner, "Just get me a fucking drink."

George smiled his charming smile at Joe and said, "No problem, Joe. Here ya go."

He set the drink on the bar in front of Joe and lifted his own glass, "Three miles up, three miles down."

I smiled at them and lifted my own drink, "Hi ho, silver."

We then all took a swig from our glasses, but we were quickly interrupted by the loud call of, "Attention!"

We all set our drinks down and stood at attention as we were told. Colonel Sink walked into the room, as well as a few of his advisors and he smiled at all of us kindly, "Well, at ease paratroopers."

We all relaxed and looked up at the stage where Sink stood, watching us all proudly, "Good evening, Easy Company."

"Good evening, sir!" We all called back to him.

He watched us all for a moment before he started speaking, "Now, parachute infantry is a brand new concept in American military history. And by God, the 506th is going to forge that brand new concept into victory."

"Yes sir!" We called, a little excitedly on our parts. I felt George nudge me and I looked over at him, smiling right back up at him.

"I want you to know that I'm damn proud of each and every one of you," He said, smiling down at us still, "Now you deserve this party," He said as Grant walked up to him and handed him a beer, "Thank you, Sergeant Grant."

He nodded curtly and walked back over to the group. Sergeant? I didn't know he got promoted. I'd have to congratulate him when this was all finished.

"Now I want you to have fun, and remember our motto," Sink said, looking around at us as he raised his glass, "Currahee!"

"Currahee!" We all shouted back, taking drinks now ourselves.

We all relaxed back into the party and started conversing again. I smiled up at George and took a sip from my half empty beer and said, "I'll see you boys later, I'm going to go and congratulate _Sergeant_ Grant."

George and Joe smiled at me and nodded before they went back to talking about whatever it was they were talking about. I walked through the crowd of Easy members, bumping into Bull, Frank, and Joseph Liebgott as I went. Joe sent me sort of a glare after I ran into him, and I sent him a weary look back. He didn't like me, and I didn't know why. I know he was a bit of a jackass and kind of ill tempered, but he treated me like the gravel he walks on.

I ignored his glare and approached Grant, one of my best friends here. I smiled as I came up behind him as he spoke to Shifty and Popeye, "Grant," I said, garnering his attention, "Or should I say, Sergeant Grant?"

He smiled as he turned to face me and I held out my hand, "Congratulations, Chuck. You deserve it."

"Thanks, Mattie," He said, shaking my hand firmly, "Now when are you getting promoted?"

I shrugged and kept my smile present, "I don't need no stinkin' promotion."

"Oh, come on! You're one of the toughest guys here, you deserve one," Chuck said with a bright smile himself.

"Well..." I said, shrugging, trying to hide my blush.

"Private Tauscher," Colonel Robert Sink's voice sounded, making me turn to face him respectfully.

"Sir," I said, looking up at him as he approached me.

"I need to speak with you a moment, if you don't mind," He said, tilting his head off the side, towards an area where we could speak alone and quietly.

"Yes sir," I said, handing my beer to Chuck to hold.

Sink started over towards the door and I cast a look back at Grant, and he winked at me, silently telling me this was it. I just rolled my eyes and followed after Sink. I stopped by the door with him and looked up at him curiously, "What's all of this about, sir?"

"I've seen you out there training with all those other men, and jumping out of that aircraft. For you to be a small as you are, you sure do run right up there with the big dogs," Sink said with a kind smile.

"Thank you, sir," I said, my hands clasped at my waist respectfully.

"I've found it fit to promote you," He said, and half of me wanted to be surprised and the other part of me wanted to laugh. Chuck was going to have a field day with this, "Congratulations, Corporal Tauscher."

"Thank you, sir. I'm honored, sir," I said and he held out his hand for me to shake, which I gladly did.

"Alright, now go on, Corporal. You don't want to miss the party," Colonel Sink said and I nodded.

"Sir," Then I turned on my heel and went back over to Chuck, who was still holding my beer.

"Well then, Private?" Chuck said, an eyebrow raised as I took my beer back from him.

I took a sip from it and then said, without looking at him, "Call me Corporal, Sarge."  
0-0-0-0-0  
June 1943  
We were doing combat training today. We were actually going to go out into the woods and face 'the enemy', AKA another company. It was early morning though and most of the boys were heading down to the mess hall for chow, so I decided now was my time to shower.

I snuck off to the showers quickly and quietly, grabbing my clothes that I'd be wearing for the day. I got into the showers and there was nobody else there, which was to be expected, everyone showered as soon as they got up generally, but I waited a while longer for obvious reasons.

I looked at myself in the mirror, going ahead and brushing my teeth. My hair did need a trim, it was becoming a bit too long. Maybe I can get Toye to cut it for me later, God knows Liebgott won't do it. After I finished brushing my teeth, I took off my sleep shirt and started to unwrap the bandage around my chest. I threw it onto the counter next to the sink and shimmied out of my shorts and underwear before I turned on one of the showers and got in.

The warm water felt good and woke me up from a long light's rest. It was nice not having to get up and run Currahee every morning anymore. It was nice having time to relax before drills started. I washed my shaggy hair quickly and let the shampoo run down my back as I rinsed out my hair.

As I reached for the bar of soap on the side, someone behind me spoke, "Hey, Mattie."

Shit. I yelped and without even thinking I spun around then quickly ducked, hiding my naked self from view.

"Jesus Christ!" The voice of Chuck Grant suddenly cried, his voice a little higher than usual. I peered over at him a little and saw him covering his eyes with his hand and blushing like mad, "I'm sorry! I-I, uh..."

"Chuck, what are you doing in here?!" I snapped back, taking advantage of him covering his eyes as I leaped out and grabbed my towel.

"I-I was wonderin' if you were goin' to join us for breakfast today, you-you were runnin' a bit later than usual," Chuck said, shaking his head, "Now I know why."

I blew out an annoyed breath, my face bright red too as he just saw me butt naked, but I did say, "You can open your eyes now, I'm covered."

Chuck took his hand away from his eyes wearily and he blushed a little deeper when he saw I was only covered by a towel that barely went below my buttocks. He tried avoiding eye contact with me and I would've laughed if the situation weren't so awkward. Chuck wasn't really the shy type, so seeing him like this was quite amusing.

"You're-you're... You're a woman!" Chuck cried, looking me up and down and going redder, which I didn't think was possible.

"Shh! Would you quiet down?!" I cried, stepping closer to him and putting my hand over his mouth, making him go stiff, "I don't want anyone to know about this, you got me? So don't go around being a loudmouth."

Chuck just nodded his head and kept his baby blue eyes on mine. I pulled my hand away from his mouth and stepped back away from him, giving him some space. He seemed nervous, which is understandable.

"My God, I can't believe this," Chuck whispered, beginning to panic, "I've... Touched you in... Places."

"Don't make it sound weird, Chuck," I said, rolling my eyes. He's referring to my chest.

"But it is weird!" Chuck replied, still whispering though, "What- I- Am I the only one that knows about this?"

I shook my head, "No, Bill and Spina know, too."

"Oh my God," Chuck said, running a hand through his usually combed hair that he had just now ruined and spiked up, "This is too weird, I-" He was breathing heavily now, putting a hand to his chest, "I don't feel so good. Is my heart supposed to be beating this fast?"

"Chuck, calm down," I said, using one hand to calm him and the other to keep my towel wrapped around myself, "Breathe."

He tried, but he tried too hard and he began to hyperventilate. I cursed to myself and watched as Chuck's back hit the wall behind him as he tried his best to breathe. I didn't even care at that moment, so I turned and grabbed my clothes, quickly putting them on, not bothering with the bandage right now, I'll get that in a minute. When I turned back to Chuck he was breathing heavier and had his eyes covered again, his face bright red once more.

I knelt down in front of him from where he slid down the wall and to the ground, but I kept my hands to myself at the moment, "Take your hands off your eyes, I'm dressed."

He cautiously and slowly removed his hand, and when it was gone from his face I saw that his bright blue eyes were as wide as saucers. I put my hands out in front of me, trying to calm him down, "Chuck, please, calm down, it's alright."

"I'm just-" He ran a hand through his hair again, messing it up further than he already had, "I'm just tryin' to take it all in, okay? This is a little much!"

"Alright, I understand, don't shout," I said, my voice so calm, it was surprising even me.

Chuck closed his eyes and tried to even out his breathing. I wanted to touch him, grab his shoulder, pat his back for comfort, something, but I knew it would be too awkward for him, knowing what he'd just found out. So I just sat there awkwardly, waiting for Chuck to calm down, at least just a little bit.

I sat there for a few minutes, waiting for this thing to pass, and eventually his breathing evened out, for the most part, and a little color had come back to his face.

"Okay," Chuck said, running both his hands down his face before he looked up at me, though he kept averting my eyes, "Let me get this straight. You're a woman, disguising herself as a man... Why?"

"It's pretty obvious why, Chuck," I said to him, giving him a look, "They'd never let me into the Airborne knowing I was a woman. I had to disguise myself as a man to get in, it was the only way."

"Y-you could've helped out some other way! Like-like... You could've become a nurse or something!" Chuck cried, though he kept his voice only audible to us.

"I could never be a nurse, I don't have to patience nor the comforting qualities it takes to be a nurse," I explained, "Besides, my dad was in the military, as were my uncles and both my grandfathers, and when my brothers signed up, well... I just had to. It felt right."

Chuck didn't say anything else, he just started at me. I couldn't quite define the look he was giving me, I couldn't tell if he was angry, surprised, confused, weirded out, maybe all of the above?

"You're not going to tell anybody about this, are you?" I asked, silently praying to God that he didn't.

Chuck then furrowed his brow at me, looking at me as if I were insane, "What? No, of course not. I-I couldn't do that, not to you."

I raised one eyebrow at him curiously, and a bit surprised, "Really? You're not going to rat me out?"

Chuck shook his head, "No, never. You're one of my favorite people in this damn company, without you on my ass 24/7 I probably wouldn't even be here anymore. You're scarier than Sobel some days, you know?"

There's the Chuck I know and love.

I smiled a small, thankful smile at him, "Thank you."

"You're not surprised, are you?" Chuck asked, one eyebrow raised, "That I'm not going to rat you out?"

I didn't answer him with words, I just shrugged.

"Oh, come on, Mattie, I thought you knew me better than that," Chuck went on, his smile becoming wider; he seemed to be becoming more comfortable with my real identity as time went on. Chuck then looked down at his watch and sighed, "Come on, help me up. We need to get down to the mess hall before breakfast is over."

He held out his hand for me to grab and I did firmly, pulling him to his feet. He winced as he stood and when I let go of his hand he shook it out, as if he were in pain, "Damn, for a girl you sure do got a strong grip."

I rolled my eyes and socked him on the arm, "Smart ass."

He rubbed his arm and chuckled at me, "You can pack a punch, too."  
0-0-0-0-0  
I was so tired. We were all in a ditch of sorts, our weapons at the ready and being extremely silent. The only sounds to be heard were the birds chirping and the crunching of leaves underneath a nervous Captain Sobel's boots. We've been in this position for what's felt like hours, but it's only been about twenty minutes. I'm pretty sure Sobel's lost.

I was about to fall asleep where I stood. It was nice out today. The sun was shining, it wasn't too hot, the birds were chirping, making me fall into a comfortable and peaceful trance. Spina was sitting on the ground behind me, playing with his wrist watch, as Eugene stood beside him, just standing there awkwardly doing nothing. Medics didn't carry weapons, so he just stood there and awaited orders. He seemed a bit frustrated, to be honest, which was rare. Eugene was usually pretty calm and gentle, so if he was ever agitated, you knew to steer clear.

"Petty!" I heard the harsh whisper of Sobel, making me look over to where he was standing, he was gesturing for one of the other men to come over to him, "Map!"

"Jesus..." Petty said, taking his map out of his bag and taking it over to Sobel quietly, the leaves crunching underneath his boots as he went.

I watched as Sobel took the map from Petty and looked down at it, then he looked up, his dark eyes seeming frightened. Great. He said something, but he was quiet, so I couldn't hear him from where I was standing. I heard some more leaves crunching from somewhere in that direction and then I saw Sobel jump down into the ditch, muttering something to Sobel. I then watched as Sobel pointed up out of the ditch somewhere, this was when I cast a glance back down to our two medics.

Ralph just shrugged his shoulders and continued fiddling with his watch and Eugene sighed and ran a hand across his forehead in frustration. I would've chuckled at the expression on his face if I weren't so frustrated with our Captain as well.

"Second Platoon!" We heard Lieutenant Winters whisper loudly, garnering our attention, "Move out!"

I furrowed my brow and turned to look at the medics, "What?" I said, but more to myself than to them.

"Tactical column!" He said before he turned and started up the hill.

I looked back at our medics again, Ralph looked shocked and Eugene mumbled something to himself incoherently as we began to follow Lieutenant Winters up the hill. We only made it a few steps before we were 'ambushed' by the other company who had been hiding in the grass, wearing full camouflage and holding their weapons up, aiming right at us.

I sighed in defeat as the supervisor came out, a notebook in hand along with a pen, looking extremely disappointed in Sobel, "Captain, you've just been killed, along with 95 percent of your company."

I looked around at the men around me, and then at my company. Malarkey looked shocked, but not because we were ambushed, but because of Sobel's decision. Toye looked like he wanted to kill somebody, and I couldn't blame him. What I wouldn't give to shove this bayonet so far up Sobel's ass, he-

"Your outfit?" The supervisor asked, ready to write it down.

Sobel looked like he didn't want to say it at first, and I wouldn't want to either. He's making us look bad, we didn't need that and we sure as hell didn't deserve it, "Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th."

The guy wrote it down and as he did I've never felt so angry. I felt bad for these men. We tried so hard to get here, we worked our asses off. We ran six miles everyday for a year, we jumped out of an airplane, we put up with this jackass for what seemed like forever, and here we were, letting him make fools of us.

The look on Eugene's face I've never seen him wear, and it was amusing, but also frustrating. Sobel makes even Eugene's blood boil.

"Leave three wounded men on the ground and report to the assembly area," The man ordered him and Sobel sighed in annoyance.

He had no right to be annoyed, he's the one that got us into this mess.

He turned around and looked at us, trying to pick his three 'wounded' men, "You, you, and you."

Bill, Eugene, and me.

I sighed. I just want to go to sleep.

"Alright, let's go," Then Sobel and the others went off, the other company heading off as well.

"You three sit tight," The supervisor said, "In about twenty minutes I'll send somebody to get you."

We nodded, well I did. Eugene cut his eyes to the ground and began twiddling his thumbs and Bill just rolled his eyes and turned, trying to find a good tree trunk to lean against. The supervisor then went off, writing something down as he went, following after Sobel and the rest of the company.

I sighed after he was out of earshot and went over to Bill, sitting down against the tree next to him. It was then silent for a minute, we just sat there together in our shared annoyance and frustration. I slumped my shoulders and tilted my head back, trying to peer up at the clear sky through the tree branches up above us, my helmet making it a struggle to get comfortable. I took it off, it's not like they could scold me for it, I was already 'dead.'

I set the clanky thing down next to me and released a tense breath through my nose, resting my hands over my stomach and trying to relax. I closed my eyes and let the comfortable warmth from the sun send me into a state of relaxation, but my silence and peace didn't last long, because Bill spoke.

"What a jackass," Bill muttered irritably.

I cracked one eye open and peered over at him, "What?"

"Sobel," Bill said as I looked fully at him now; he cast me a brief, yet irritated glance, "He gets us lost out here, and then he moves us out?! We were in a secure position! We could've drawn them out and took 'em by surprise, but no! Sobel just doesn't know what the hell he's doin'!"

"Keep your voice down, somebody could be out here listening to all of this," I said, not wanting him to get in trouble.

"Do I look like I give a fuck?" Bill snapped, sending a sharp glare my way, though I knew his anger wasn't directed at me.

I sighed again and avoided his gaze as Bill started mumbling to himself, "Fuckin' good for nothin' sack a shit..."

I rolled my eyes and tried ignoring Bill's grumbling. I knew he was irritated, so was I, but Bill's complaining could be a little much sometimes and eventually it got old. I closed my eyes again and tried relaxing against the tree trunk, which was difficult, as it was probably the most uncomfortable thing I've ever tried to sleep on.

Then Bill spoke again. God dammit, can I get some sleep sometime today?

"Hey Doc, ya should prob'ly sit down," Bill said, looking up at Doc, "We're prob'ly gunna be here a while."

I opened my eyes and looked up at Eugene. He was just standing there, looking up at the clear blue sky, his dark eyes not visible to me at the moment. I cast a curious glance to Bill and he just shrugged, giving me an obviously confused sort of look.

"Doc?" Bill said his nickname again, trying to catch the odd man's attention.

Then I noticed Gene's fists were clenched at his sides, his knuckles paler than usual. I gave him a concerned look, "Gene, you alright?"

He finally looked down at me and Bill, and I caught eyes with him. Though his fists showed rage, his eyes showed peace. How he accomplished hiding his anger so well, I'm not so sure, but I admired him for it. Gene looked at me for a moment, then he simply said, "I'm fine."

He then almost silently made his way to the tree next to the one me and Bill were leaning against and me and my old friend shared another confused look. Bill shrugged again and then looked away from the medic and looked down at his hands in his lap, messing with his fingers now.

Since I probably wasn't going to be able to catch a little catnap while we were out here, I guess I should probably try and pass the time. I looked to Gene who was now leaning back against the tree, looking down at his boots stretched out in front of him.

He always looked so peaceful. I couldn't help but notice how good he looked in his uniform. I cleared my throat awkwardly, embarrassing myself with my thoughts. Bill gave me an odd look and Gene looked over at me in concern, "You a'right, Colonel?"

I cleared my throat again, gentler this time, and nodded, avoiding both his and Bill's eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, just... I just got something in my throat."

Gene seemed to take that as a perfectly normal explanation, but Bill kept his eyes on me, and I could feel his gaze burning into the side of my head. I looked over at him, my blue eyes curious. He was smiling in a knowing way, and the way he waggled his thick eyebrows made me glare at him, but when I did that he just winked at me and smiled to himself.

I averted his dark eyes and looked back to my feet- Oh yeah! I was going to try and pass the time.

"So... Gene..." I started awkwardly, not looking over at him at first, but eventually I caved in and caught eyes with him, making my heart skip a beat, but I ignored the feeling and went on with my question, "What's it like back in Louisiana?"

Gene sort of smiled at my question, his smile was very faint, but it was there nonetheless, "It's nice. It's hot in the summer and comfortable in the winter, but it neva' gets cold 'nough ta snow... We live near the water, and when I was a kid my dad used ta take me out on his boat and we'd go fishin'. I caught my first fish on my ninth birthday, I remember how excited my Pop's was. I'll neva' forget the look on his face..."

The smile on Gene's face was a heartwarming sight, I loved seeing it on him. I smiled at his short story and tried thinking of a memory from my childhood, then I smiled. Time to embarrass Bill back.

"When I was, I don't know, thirteen? I got into a fight on the playground at my middle school," I started and I could just feel Bill's glare on me, "The kid was really asking for it, you know? He was always picking on my friends, calling them names, one day I'd just had enough. So I took him outside and I socked him right in the jaw. I beat the hell out of him, and it was funny, 'cause he never messed with my friends again."

"That's horseshit!" Bill snapped defensively, his arms crossed as he glared at me, "You've been tellin' people that since the day it happened, and it's all false."

"Except for the part where I kicked your scrawny little ass," I remarked and then I heard Eugene speak.

"You beat up Sergeant Guarnere?" Gene asked, and I nodded, but Bill shook his head.

"He was bigger than me at the time, I was only twelve! Barely twelve!" Bill defended, but I snickered at him and I heard Gene chuckle at it too. I've never heard him laugh before and it was a beautiful sound.

Me and Bill looked over at him and I smiled widely at him, but Bill glared at the timid medic and snapped, "Whadda ya laughin' 'bout, pretty boy?"

Then Eugene frowned, his cheeks turning pink at the nickname Bill just gave him. I smiled at his embarrassment, but Bill just glared at him a little longer before he turned his attention back to his feet before he spoke again, "Anyway, what happened ta me wasn't nearly as embarrassin' as the time I caught you making out with a-"

"Okay! That's enough of that!" I cried suddenly, my cheeks turning a shade of pink now as well. I sighed and pulled back the sleeve of my combat jacket, looking down at my wrist watch, "How long have we been here, now?"

Bill just rolled his eyes and replied with, "Five minutes, if that."

I sighed again, but louder and more exaggerated this time. This was going to be a long twenty minutes.  
0-0-0-0-0  
A couple of weeks later was the day we've all been waiting for, well, one of them anyway. We were about to leave the states. We were to catch a train from North Carolina to New York City, and from there we'd board a boat that would take us to England. We were trying to cherish the moments we had left in the states, because sooner than later, we'd know for sure some of us wouldn't be coming back. It hadn't really become real just yet, we were still just cutting up and we remained loose. We had yet to realize how serious this actually was.

"And to think we've still got, what? A year of training waiting for us in England?" Joe Toye said, scoffing in an annoyed way, "And to think we were almost away from Sobel."

"Who in their right mind thought that?" I asked, furrowing my brow curiously at him, "You'd have to be an idiot."

"Well, Cobb is the living, breathing definition of that word, so..." Shifty joked, playing with some grass that he pulled out of the ground in the palm of his hand.

"Shut up, Shifty," Cobb said back, clearly annoyed, but he went on, "You think the Krauts 'll get him? Or one of us?"

I disliked Cobb. He was a jackass. He hated me, more than Liebgott did. And speaking of Liebgott.

"Who? Sobel?" The skinny man suddenly asked, setting his duffle bag down and sitting down on top of it, looking around at all of us, "Well, you know, I'm always fumblin' with grenades, it'd be easy if one went off by accident."

"Well, they must of put him in charge for a reason," Shifty said, looking at nobody in particular.

I was uncomfortable being here all of the sudden. Every time Liebgott was around I could just sense that he wanted to say something to me, something smart. I didn't want to fight the guy, because even though I could pack a punch, Liebgott could kick my ass. You had to be cautious of the little guys, we could surprise you.

I got up from where I stood, grabbing my bag and looking down at the guys, "I'll see you guys later, I'm gunna go find Bill."

"Alright, see ya 'round, Matt," Toye said, and the others just grumbled a farewell as I stalked away from the irritable and impatient group.

I slung my bag over my shoulder, and when I did that I realized just how heavy it was. I grunted at the sudden weight over my shoulders and back, but pressed on. I'd be fine, it was just a little bit of weight. I released a tense sigh and walked on, trying to find Bill, or Ralph, or... Anybody, for that matter. I didn't know Toye and Shifty or those other guys all that well, I knew them, I just didn't talk to them too much. I was most comfortable around Bill, of course, Ralph, and Chuck. Maybe it was because they were the only three here who knew I was a woman.

I stopped after I found someplace off the main pathway of people and looked down at my watch. It was nearly eleven, our train should be here any minute now. I looked up, letting my sleeve drop, and looked around for a familiar face.

"You're lookin' a little down there, Maddie," A familiar voice suddenly spoke, making me jump at the suddenness of it.

I spun around a faced Chuck Grant, who was smiling a charming smile at me. He looked happy, at least. I released an exaggerated breath and sort of glared at the man, "Jesus Chuck! You scared me shitless!"

"Sorry," Was all he said as he walked over to me, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he set down his bag next to his feet, "So... You ready for this?"

I frowned then and shrugged, shimmying out of my bag as well, letting it fall down at my feet, "Are you?"

Chuck's smile faltered a tad, and you could see the uncertainty in his blue eyes as he shook his head slightly, "No."

"Me neither," I said, looking around at the men chattering around us, "I don't think anybody is, really. Others are just better at hiding it, I guess."

Chuck just shrugged again and said, his confidence fading, "What can you do, though?"

I shook my head, frowning deeply, "Nothing."

"We've got a war to fight," Chuck went on, his smile shrinking by the word, "And we're going to win it if I have to die trying."

"Don't say stuff like that," I quickly scolded him, swatting a hand at him, but missing him by a mile as I furrowed my brow in annoyance.

"Say stuff like what?" Chuck asked, seeming confused now as he too furrowed his brow.

I shook my head again, turning to avoid his eyes, "You're not going to die."

I heard Chuck sigh and then I felt him get closer to me, then there was a comforting hand on my shoulder, but I still didn't turn to look at him, "I know."

That didn't sound genuine, he sounded doubtful. Everyone did. The men were going into this thing with confidence to win the war, but lacking that confidence when it came to surviving this stupid thing. I hated this. All of these good people were dragged here, to fight this stupid war. I don't know what the world would be like without people like George Luz, Bill Guarnere, Skip Muck, Chuck Grant, and Doc Roe. These guys all were very unique in their own way, and they all were very special to me, if anything were to happen to them, I'd- Well, I don't know what I'd do.

I sighed as Chuck spoke up again, "Lighten up, Tauscher," He said, squeezing my shoulder and I could just hear the smile on his face, "The war hasn't even begun yet. By the time we get this thing started it'll be over."

I hope you're right, Chuck Grant. I hope you're right.

"And besides," Chuck went on, his voice dripping with smug sarcasm, "If anybody's going to die in this war, it's our lovely Captain Sobel."

I scoffed and finally turned back around to look at Chuck, a small smile had made itself present on my face, "Oh, come on, Chucky. He only got us lost once, what are the chances of it happening again?"

Chuck scoffed now too and rolled his eyes for extra effect, "Very high."

I chuckled and smiled up at him. What would I do without Chuck Grant? He was the one that was going to help me through this war, as well as Bill, Ralph, and Eugene. They were the ones who looked out for me, and I was sure as hell going to do the same for them, and I'll do it if I have to die trying.


	4. The Only Thing That Matters

A/N - Here's another one. Sorry it took so long, I'm at the beach right now and have been spending a lot of time down there with the family. It's been nice, you really appreciate vacations more when you have a job, lol. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's the last one before all the action really kicks up. Enjoy. :)

Oh, and thanks to . for your kind review. I'm glad you like the story and Maddie's relationship with Bill. :)

Disclaimer - I don't own BoB or anything in it, just Maddie Tauscher, my OC. I don't wish any disrespect to the real men who fought in WWII, I only respect them and look up to them.

0-0-0-0-0

Like I said before, it wasn't real for any of us until we were standing against the railing of that boat, watching Lady Liberty fade into the distance. No one spoke, it was as quiet as I've ever heard these men. Wedged between Grant and Luz, I tried to keep myself stable. I knew what I was doing, I knew it when I signed up, but all of these men did. It didn't mean that we weren't going to miss the place we all took for granted, the place we all grew up, the place we called home. We also knew something else, something we had tried to push to the back of our minds; we knew a lot of the men on the boat wouldn't come back. We tried not to think about it, but every once in a while the thought would come to the front of our minds and remind us of the awful truth.

"She's real pretty, ain't she?" Luz said, looking out at the Statue of Liberty, a lit cigarette hanging off his lip, "I saw her once when I was a kid."

Chuck shook his head and kept his gaze on the beautiful sight, "I've never seen her. Only in pictures?"

Luz looked over at Chuck curiously now, his facial expression finally changing from serious to curious, "Really?"

"I'd never left the state of California until this whole thing started," Chuck said, his blue eyes still focused on the statue as it had nearly faded away at this point, "Weird huh? I lived in LA my whole life, then went to Georgia for a year, North Carolina, New York for twenty minutes, and now I'm going to England."

"I came to New York once when I was a kid," I said, smiling slightly at the fond memory, "I came with my dad. He took me all over the city... His family comes from here, I guess he just wanted to show me where I come from."

"Well, surely you're not from New York," Chuck said, looking down at me now, "Where do you come from, really?"

"I'm Irish on my mother's side," I said, throwing my own cigarette over the boat and into the water below.

"Shit, don't tell Malarkey that," Chuck joked, snickering a little bit at his own joke.

"And I'm German on my father's," I said, not even smiling. I still couldn't believe this was it.

It was silent for a minute, then I heard George say, "You're shitting me."

I shook my head, "My grandparents are from Germany, they immigrated to New York in the late 1800s, then they had my dad, his brother, and his sister."

"Wow," Chuck said, "My great-grandparents are from Scotland, and the other set of great-grandparents are from France. I don't know shit about either of 'em."

I chuckled and finally cracked a small smile as George spoke again, "I'm Portuguese and Portuguese only."

"Your parents from there?" Chuck asked and George nodded.

"Yep," He replied, finally finishing his cigarette and tossing it over the edge where mine had just disappeared to, "Come on, let's go inside, I feel like a nap."

So we followed George Luz inside.  
0-0-0-0-0  
"Okay, so what we're a little dirty and poor? Philly's a great city," I tried to tell Chuck Grant who has been giving me a hard time for the past two hours. I lay next to him on my cot, and he in his, and we lay opposite directions, meaning he kept putting his filthy boot in my face, "Tell me one good thing about LA."

Chuck scoffed and shrugged, as if that were easy, "The Dodgers, of course."

"Really? Is that all you got?" I asked him, giving him a borderline dirty look.

Chuck thought about for a minute, then he shrugged and nodded, "Yeah, pretty much."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, going quiet for a moment. I looked down at the deck of cards I kept shuffling in my hands, trying to keep myself distracted. I had to move, I couldn't keep still. So I decided to take out some cards, if I didn't have these I'd be fidgeting all over the place.

"So... I've known you for a little over a year now, and I just realized I don't really know that much about you," Chuck said, resting his hands over his stomach as he looked up at me.

I scoffed and smirked, "Chuck, other than Bill and Ralph, you know the most about me on this entire ship."

He rolled his eyes, "I'm not talking about that. I mean... What's your family like? You got any brothers or sisters or anything?"

I looked up at Chuck curiously now, "What's with the sudden interest in my life?"

Chuck smirked a little sarcastically, "I may act like the others guys, Tauscher, but I have an interest in other people's life and feelings just like any woman might."

I snickered at one of my best friends and replied with, "Well, look at you. Chuck Grant, tough guy during the day, sensitive sweetheart by night."

"You're a jackass, Tauscher," Chuck said with a roll of his eyes and I just snickered, "But seriously."

I sighed and looked back down at the deck of cards I was still shuffling in my hands, "Alright, I'll bite... I was second born in my family, I'm the middle kid. I have an older brother and a younger one. Maurice, my older brother, was in college for some kind of science degree, but when Pearl Harbor happened, well... He's in Japan right now, fought in Guadalcanal, I don't know where he's at now, I haven't heard from him in a while. My younger brother, Mitch, he signed up last year with me, but he joined the Navy. He's going to Japan next week..." I sighed, "My mother's heartbroken, all her children left the nest a bit early to join the fight, and all of them have now been officially shipped away."

"Yeah, my mom's probably the same way," Chuck replied, looking down at his hands now as he twiddled his thumbs, "I'm an only child, so she's probably balling her eyes out as we speak."

"I'll have to send her a letter when we get to England," I said, having become a little sad now, so thank God something broke me out of my little depressed spell.

A sudden loud banging sound jerked both me and Chuck out of our conversation and then a bunch of voices followed. I heard, "Break it up! Break it up!" and, "Jesus! Not again!" I furrowed my brow and looked over to Chuck, and he just shrugged his shoulders. I sat up and peered down my cot and I saw a group of people surrounding something and they all seemed frantic. Then I heard a familiar voice yell, "Ya don't wanna fuck with me, Joe! I'll kick yer scrawny little ass!"

Great.

I quickly climbed down my cot and let my boots hit the floor before I quickly made my way to the large group trying to break up the fistfight. I pushed my way through the group and when I got to the middle I saw Bill and Liebgott wailing on each other. Bill had a bloody nose and I saw him spit onto the ground, his saliva had a reddish tint to it. Joe had an already swelling eye and a cut lip as well. I sighed irritably and got between the two, mustering up all my strength and putting my hands on each of their chests, pushing them apart.

"Alright, enough! Enough!" I cried, getting them to stop swinging at each other, but that didn't stop the insults from coming.

"You're a jackass, Gonorrhea!" Joe yelled at him, pointing an angry finger at him.

"Oh, real original, Joe!" Bill yelled back and then Liebgott narrowed his dark eyes at the shorter, but more well built man.

"Oh, fuck you!" Joe cried back, trying to size Bill up again, but I pushed them apart once more.

"Both of you, shut up!" I snapped at them, glaring at the both of them.

They both went quiet all of the sudden, and I looked up at Bill, "What the hell is your problem?"

Bill seemed shocked by my outburst, "Me?! I didn't do shit!"

"Oh, bullshit!" Joe cried again, "You're sittin' over here insultin' me and-"

"Insultin' you! I was talkin' 'bout Sobel!" Bill cried back and I finally shouted, very loudly.

"SHUT UP!" Everybody around us went quiet and I glared at the both of them again, "Both of you go find some medics and get all of this," I gestured to their beaten faces, "Fixed up. And the rest of you, sit the fuck down and go back to your business. You got me?"

"You ain't the boss of me-" Joe tried, but I sent him a glare and he went quiet, though his glare was just as much as mine, if not sharper.

Everybody quickly dispersed and Bill and Joe kept their glares, except Bill's was on Joe and Lieb's was on me. I glared right back and pointed to I don't even know where, "Go find a medic. Now."

Bill grumbled and shrugged out of my grasp, but his shoved Joe with his shoulder as he passed, but Joe's gaze never left mine. I glared hard at him for a moment more, then he just shook his head and turned away, going to find a medic just like Bill had.

He hated me, and I didn't know why and it used to bother me. But now, I had just given up on figuring it out, I didn't even care anymore. He hated me, and I hated him. I don't care.  
0-0-0-0-0  
September 1943  
England was great. The people were lively, the food was good, and so was the beer. Weekend passes were always blessing, and we cherished them here in England as the training had gotten more intense. I was always the last one to get up in the morning, for two reasons. First reason being the obvious one when it came to getting dressed, and the second reason was just because I liked sleeping in.

The one good thing about our England training was we didn't get up at the crack of dawn, we waited until a little later. I guess the more intense the training, the more rest they wanted us to have. Thank God. Of course, I'm sure Sobel didn't exactly agree with that. He still got up real early and went running every morning, but that was him and this was me. Sleeping till eight was better than sleeping till five.

I was awoken one morning by a weird feeling in my ear, almost like cold air was blowing into it. I winced at the weird feeling and groaned sleepily, turning onto my side, then I felt the weird feeling on my face, which made me open my eyes. I nearly fell out of bed when my eyes met Chuck's.

"Jesus!" I cried, jerking away a little, "God dammit, Chuck! You scared me shitless!"

Chuck just smiled and gazed over at me, "It got ya up, didn't it?"

I released an irritated sigh and sent him a narrow eyed gaze, then I noticed, "Why are you lying in my bed?"

"I felt this was the best position to execute my plan," Chuck said, shrugging a he looked over at me with his bright blue eyes, "It's worked, so I was right."

"I hate you," I simply said, and Chuck smiled.

"No, you love me," Chuck teased, and I rolled my eyes.

"You're a jackass," I said, rolling onto my back and staring up at the ceiling.

"A jackass," Chuck began, sitting up now and peering down at me and holding up at finger, "But a jackass whom you love."

"Whom? Since when did you start saying that?" I asked with a smug smile.

"Since I talked to Webster yesterday," Chuck said, "The guy's a walkin' dictionary."

I rolled my eyes, "Idiot."

Chuck smiled and leaned down, giving me a peck on the cheek as he usually did when we were alone before he got off my bed and went over to his footlocker.

"Chuck, ya need ta stop doin' that," Bill Guarnere's accent suddenly filled my ears, "Eventually somebody's gunna catch ya and think you two are... Well, ya know."

Chuck just smiled, but I rolled my eyes as I finally got out of bed and went to my own footlocker, "So, what's on the agenda today?" I asked, "Weapon's training? More running? What?"

Bill sat down on his bed and looked over at me as I slipped on my socks, "Yeah, I think we got some weapons trainin'... And some hand ta hand combat trainin', and a class, and some more weapons trainin', and then I think we gotta real life scenario drill or some shit..."

"Jesus, they want to pack some more shit into our schedule?" I asked, looking for my pants.

Bill just shrugged, "Well, we are gettin' closer and closer to our drop, I'm sure. They want us ta be prepared."

I sighed and looked down at my pants that I held in my hands, "I guess you're right," Then I turned to the both of them, "Boys... Do you mind?"

Bill and Chuck then promptly turned away and let me take off my sleep shorts and put on my OD's. When I began fastening my belt, I turned to look at them and said, "Alright, you can turn around now."

They both turned around and Bill immediately went back to talking, "Sobel's doin' our drill this afternoon."

"Shit..." I said, looking up and over at Bill, "Seriously? Why can't someone else run it?"

"'Cause Sobel is our Captain and he has ta lead us," Bill told me, as if it were fact. Which it was.

"Yeah, lead us to our fuckin' demise," Chuck said, scratching the back of his neck.

I sighed once more after I grabbed my jacket, then I shut my footlocker door and said quietly, "Shit."  
0-0-0-0-0  
We were twenty minutes in and Sobel was already lost. He was bitching about a fence right now, looking down at a map, which I was sure he didn't know how to read. I was kneeling down, my gun at the ready as I looked around in alert as I was trained to do, but I knew we were in no real danger, so I kept sending short little glares Sobel's way, and I sent a glance Perconte's way and he had the same look on his face as I did mine. I sighed and looked down at my watch. Four o'clock. I hope we were out of here soon so we could get the food while it was still hot.

"Perconte, Luz! Get the men, uh... Get... Take 'em... Take cover behind those trees!" Sobel barked out at the two funny men of the company, and Perconte quickly said, "Yes sir!"

We all quickly followed Perconte and Luz towards the trees and away from Sobel. As we got close to the trees, I grabbed the sleeve of Perconte's jacket and asked, "Hey Perconte? Is Sobel lost again?"

"Yeah," Frank answered, then he caught sight of Luz passing him by, so he called out, "Luz! Hey Luz! Come here!"

Luz came up to the front of the line with me and Frank and Frank looked up at the slightly taller man with a hopeful and already amused smile, "Can you do Major Horton?"

George smiled at Frank and then down at me as he slung his rifle over his shoulder, "Does a wile bear crap in the woods, son?"

We all snickered at that, but Frank quickly hushed us, "Yeah, yeah. You can do a good Major and goose this schmuck. Can you do it?"

"Oh, no way, I can't-" He was cut off quickly by everyone begging him to do it, and he looked around almost nervously, but he caved in the end.

"Alright, just this once," Luz said and everyone seemed excited all the sudden, even myself as he shushed us and I patted him on the helmet, causing it to tilt to one side as we all knelt down and waited for him to begin.

We watched as he cleared his throat and released a tense breath, as if he had to prepare for this, which caused me to roll my eyes and snicker a little bit. Then George knelt with us a little bit before he began his nearly spot on impression, "Is there a problem, Captain Sobel?!"

We all snickered a little at his first words and then Sobel shouted back, "Who said that?! Who broke silence?!"

We heard Tipper say something to Sobel, his voice sounding almost amused, then George spoke up again, "What is the God damn hold up, Mr. Sobel?!"

We were all trying our best to stay silent at George's impression as Sobel replied with, "A fence, sir, a-" He cut himself off abruptly, but spoke again a moment later, "A barbed wire fence!"

"Oh, that dog just ain't gon' hunt!" George yelled, and I almost hurt myself trying not to laugh and George shushed me as he went on, "Now you cut that fence and get this God damn platoon on the move!"

"Yes sir!" Sobel called and then I heard him frantically ask for his wire cutters.

We were all laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes. I wipe my own eyes of tears before I said, "Jesus, Luz, I think I ruptured something laughing so hard."

Luz just smiled charmingly and said, "Why thank you, Colonel."

We all became silent a moment later and just listened to Sobel frantically ordering around Tipper, telling him to figure out where we were supposed to go after he cut the fence. I started snickering again at Luz's impression again as I ran the entire thing over again in my head, and he smiled at me.

"You think I'm that funny, Matt?" George asked, looking around the corner at Sobel who was quickly cutting the fence.

I wanted to say something smart to him, but for some reason nothing came to mind, so I just said, "Yes George, I think you're that funny."

George smiled wider and we just waited for Sobel to order us back out of cover.  
0-0-0-0-0  
I was fuming. I couldn't believe this! My fists were clenched, my dark eyebrows were knitted together in anger, my face was probably as red as a tomato with all of my rage. I stormed towards the barracks, ready to just throw my footlocker through a window. I stormed up the few steps and swung open the door, slamming it shut behind me, and when I walked in I almost punched them.

I glared at the only two men in the barracks, both of them looking over at me with alarmed expressions. I pointed an angry finger at the both of them, storming up to them with purpose as I finally said, "Are you two fucking stupid?!"

Chuck flinched at my tone, a tone he's never heard me use before. Bill hardened his gaze though, he knew how hot headed I could be, because he was the same way, "What the hell is yer problem?"

"You damn well know what my problem is, Guarnere!" I cried, using his last name, which I never did, and it seemed to surprise him, but only for a moment.

"We had ta do it, Maddie! It was the only way ta make sure that schmuck wouldn't be leadin' us inta combat!" Guarnere said, his scowl enough to kill.

"You could've been lined up against a wall and shot!" I snapped, jabbing my finger into his chest, my blue eyes never have held such anger, "What would I have done then, huh?!"

"Ya woulda lived on and fought in this damn war without me!" Bill snapped back at me, glaring at me sharply. We haven't fought this bad in years.

"We haven't even jumped yet and you're already trying to get yourself killed!" I yelled, trying my best to size him up, "I can't go on fighting if everyone keeps leaving me! I've already lost my brother, I'm not ready to lose you guys, too!"

It was silent for a moment and Bill's angry expression faltered. He looked at me for a moment, trying to take in what I just said, "Yer-yer brotha' was killed?"

I felt the tears stinging my eyes, but I never let them fall, I just glared up at Bill, my finger still jabbing into his chest, "Bill Guarnere, I don't know if I can ever forgive you for this."

I said it through gritted teeth. Because I was angry and also trying to keep myself from just breaking down. After my little rant, I couldn't even look at him, nor Chuck. They were both making me sick, I had to go on a walk, "I can't even look at you two right now."

I turned on my heel and went back out the door, storming quickly down the steps and back down the path in the direction I had just come from. I didn't make it very far when I heard a familiar voice call out, "Tauscher!" But I kept walking, I didn't look back. I kept my fists clenched and my feet moving, "Colonel Tauscher!" He said it again, but I still didn't turn around, not until he called, "Maddie!"

I stopped dead in my tracks, a small part of me fearing that someone else had just heard him call my real name. I clenched my fists so tight, my fingernails were digging into my palms painfully. I slowly turned around and faced Chuck Grant, who was just a step in front of me. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side, in between the barracks so we were out of everybody's way.

"What Grant?" I asked, glaring up at him.

He looked down at me, almost sympathetically, but he tried to explain, "We had to do, Maddie."

"Did you? Did you really?" I asked, keeping my voice low, but harsh, "You didn't _have_ to try and resign from the company, you didn't have to completely disrespect this military, you didn't have to do any of it."

"Maddie, listen-"

"No, you listen, Grant," I said, jabbing my finger at him, but I didn't touch him, "You could be awaiting your death right now in a cell. If this had gone further against you than it already has, you could be dead. And for what?!"

"We did it so the other men wouldn't be led into battle by that lunatic!" Chuck finally snapped, narrowing his eyes at me, I was almost surprised, but I kept my brave stance, "My life was worth being lost if it meant saving the lives of others. We couldn't let that man lead us or anybody else into battle, he'll get us killed the minute we touch down, I couldn't let that happen! Not to them, and not to you!"

I didn't know what to say. What he and the others did was still incredibly stupid, I thought, but I guess he had a point. Sobel wasn't a good leader, not when it came to combat. He was good at preparing us for it, but not for leading us into it.

"Chuck, I..." I sighed finally, slumping my shoulders and releasing my tension, "I just don't want you guys getting hurt. Is that so much to ask?"

"We're going to war soon, Maddie," Chuck told me, softening his gaze now and slumping his shoulders as well, "You can't protect us forever."

I frowned deeply now. I had never really thought deeply about where we'd be soon. I couldn't watch over them all the time, I couldn't make sure they were out of harms way. I knew they'd be facing death everyday, and I wasn't ready for that. I could handle myself, but I couldn't handle seeing them hurt. I tried being strong, but the thought of these guys that I've grown to love being here one day and gone the next just broke my heart. I felt my eyes stinging again, and this time the tears didn't stay where I wanted them to.

The warm tears trickled down my cheeks and I wiped them away in annoyance, not wanting to cry in front of him. But Chuck didn't react awkwardly, it didn't make this uncomfortable. He frowned deeply and his eyebrows knitted together sadly. He slumped his shoulders and took a step closer to me, putting a gentle hand on my shoulder, his warm touch comforting.

"Maddie..." Chuck said, sighing in defeat as he searched my tearful blue eyes, "Don't cry... Please, don't cry..."

That only made me cry more and the next thing I knew Chuck's arms were wrapped firmly around me and my face was buried in his chest as I choked back sobs. I felt one of his hands on the back of my head, resting against my growing, but well kempt hair, and his other hand rubbing soothing circles on my back.

"Everything's going to be okay, alright?" Chuck tried assuring me, "We're going to be okay. Me, Bill, Ralph... Everybody, okay? Nobody's going anywhere."

"You can't promise that," I sniffled, pulling away a little and looking up at him, "You can't know that, not for sure. Anything can happen out there, any one of us could get hit. We just..." I swallowed thickly, not wanting to say this, but I knew I had to, "We just have to learn to accept it. We should've done it a long time ago when we signed up for all this mess."

Chuck looked down at my tear stained face, but he offered me a small, almost reassuring smile, "We're all idiots, aren't we?"

"What?" I asked, furrowing my brow a little as I wiped my face.

"Well, I mean... Look at us," Chuck smiled a little more, "We're all a bunch of morons who signed up to jump out of perfectly good airplanes. It doesn't get dumber than that."

I finally smiled, and I actually let out a small laugh, which made Chuck smile wider, "There's the smile."

I averted his gaze and looked down at my feet, Chuck's arms still loosely around me and my smile staying where it was. I eventually looked up at him and said, "You're a good man, Chuck Grant."

He smiled sweetly, "And you're a brave girl, Maddie Tauscher."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, pushing away from him finally, "Let's not push it now, Sarge."

Chuck snickered and followed me as I went back to the path, "I have to at least try."

"You're flirting becomes a bit much sometimes," I teased as we walked, me trying to regain my composure, "You might want to ease up."

"And why's that?" Chuck asked, smiling sweetly as we walked.

I just smiled and said, "Because you don't stand a chance, Sergeant Grant."  
0-0-0-0-0  
June 4, 1944  
Nine months passed by quickly, and now here we were, all ready to jump into Normandy. We were all packed up, had our face paint on, our combat uniforms on. We were ready, well, as ready as you could be to jump out of a 'perfectly good airplane' and into enemy occupied land.

This shit was heavy, the bag around my leg was more than half my weight. Granted, I gained ten pounds while at boot camp, but I still barely weighed one hundred and fifteen pounds while this _fucking leg bag_ weighed like eighty. I couldn't say I wasn't nervous, we all were. None of us wanted to admit it though, we couldn't. If we did, it would make things worse. We'd break. We couldn't break, we had to stay solid. We had to go into this thing one hundred percent. We had to win.

"I can barely fucking move, how do they expect me to jump out of an airplane with all this shit attached to me?" I said in irritation as George Luz sat next to me, waiting for our orders to board the plane.

"It ain't that bad," Bull Randleman said to me as he stopped in front of me and George.

George gave him a funny look and said, "Well, not for you Bull, you're 6'2 and weight two hundred pounds. It ain't so easy for us little guys."

Bull just smiled at us as a commanding voice yelled, "Easy Company!" We all turned our attention to that voice, every one of us dropping our smiles and frowning. This was it, "Listen up!"

There was irritation the next moment, but also some form of relief from the men when he told us there was 'no jump tonight.' I was silently thanking the rain, wind, and fog, but also cursing it out. On one hand, I wanted to get this over with, but on the other, I wanted to stay here, in the comfort of England, without the war.

Everybody around me grumbled or groaned, all of them annoyed, and I so was I. After he finished telling us that we were postponed for twenty four hours, we all sort of cleared out and went on either to the barracks or went to the theater. I was tired, so I went to the barracks. I cleaned up and relaxed on my cot, but I could never fall asleep.

I sat up in bed anxiously, looking up at the ceiling as I awaited my orders. I was the only one to come back to the barracks, everybody else went off somewhere else. I'd only been here an hour when all of the sudden I wasn't feeling so good; I felt sick to my stomach. I felt my breath hitch in my throat as it increased it's speed, I was feeling lightheaded now.

I swallowed thickly, trying to regain my composure, trying to calm down. Was this a panic attack? I haven't had one of these in years. Not since I was a kid. I put a hand to my chest, feeling my quick beating heart under my jacket, and I almost yelped in fear when the door to the barracks slammed open.

I jumped and sat up in bed, looking up to see what all the commotion was. My panic instantly dissipated then, it was replaced with something else, something very different, something that I felt often. Worry.

I furrowed my brow as I watched the figure walk between the line of beds, "Bill?" I said, watching him pass me and go to sit on his bunk, "Are you okay?"

He sat down and ran a hand through his black hair, his eyes holding two different emotions. Pain and anger. He didn't answer my question, so I swung my legs over the side of my bed and started to stand, "Bill? What's wrong?"

I approached his bed and he shook his head, sighing heavily before he looked up at me, "Henry's dead."

I froze. He... What? No. No, it couldn't be. He wasn't- No.

"H-he..." I swallowed thickly, "What?"

"Henry's dead," Bill said, looking up at me angrily, "He was killed in Monte Casino. Where the fuck is that?"

I didn't know, I was still frozen in my spot. I shook my head, my eyes staring at the bed beside him, "I-I don't know... Sounds Italian."

"Jesus..." Bill said, running a hand across his face. I then shook my head, snapping out of my trance and looking down at my friend. He was in pain, and he needed me right now.

"Bill, I'm... I'm so sorry, I-I don't know what to say," I said, looking down at him sadly.

He looked up at me now, catching my eyes and his features softened, "I'm sorry too, Maddie. I know how close ya two were. Hell, he loved ya like a sista'."

I shook my head, "He was your brother."

"He was yers, too," Bill said, and I wouldn't smiled if I hadn't felt a sudden rush of sadness take me over. Bill then frowned again, and he was trying to hard to hide his pain with his anger. He was always good at doing that, "Ma has nobody there with her right now. God knows what the hell she's goin' through."

I sighed and looked down at my booted feet, going to sit down next to Bill. I looked up at him and searched his face for a minute, trying to find the words to say, "Everything's going to be okay," I said, grabbing Bill's hand in mine and squeezing it firmly, "We're going to jump tomorrow and we're going to get them son of a bitches," I paused, squeezing his hand again and giving Bill a brave look, "For Henry."

Bill nodded and looked down at our hands, squeezing mine back, then he met my eyes again, "They'll get what's comin'."

I offered him a smile, a smile that took everything I had to muster, "You bet your ass they will."

Bill smiled back, then frowned. His brow twitched with sadness, but he kept himself together, he quickly hid that slip up with a scowl, but that didn't mean I didn't see it. I scooted closer to him and released his hands before I said, "Come here," I wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug, and he didn't even protest. He wrapped a firm arm around my middle and rested his chin on my shoulder and letting me comfort him.

He never cried though. If there was one thing about Wild Bill Guarnere, it was that he never cried.  
0-0-0-0-0  
"Doc Roe is going to pass these air sickness pills out," He told us as Gene started walking down the line, passing them out, "You take one now and then one after thirty minutes in the air."

He passed them around without making eye contact with anybody, not even me. He handed me a pack of the pills and I quickly took one, swallowing it without any water. I stuffed the other one into my breast pocket and then I heard Lieutenant Winters speak.

"Alright men, listen up," We all looked up at him, anxiously awaiting the moment we were to board the plane, "Good luck... God bless you... And I'll see you in the assembly area."

We were all quiet, nobody smiled back at him, and even his smile looked forced. I watched as he leaned down and helped one of the men to his feet, then another, then another, then another, and then he got to me. I gripped his hand tightly as he lifted me up, as if I weighed nothing, and compared to him, I probably didn't. I nodded curtly at him, looking into his green eyes bravely before I walked around him and started towards the plane.

I was helped onto the plane by Grant, and he smiled at me reassuringly. I smiled back, though it was forced, and I walked past him. I sat down next to Joe Toye and Chuck on the other side of me. Joe looked at me for a moment, but he didn't say anything. He was chewing gum, almost anxiously. I sat in between the boys silently, gazing down at my boots. Thank God I was wearing all this gear, or else everyone would see me shaking.

I sat there for only a moment being silent and looking down at my boots, but I lifted my head and my gaze when I heard the plane start up and the propellers start spinning. I swallowed thickly and looked around me at the other men on the plane. Liebgott was resting his arms on top of his bag, his chin resting atop his arms; Gordon was doing as I was just doing, staring down at his boots, almost paralyzed with fear; George looked like he wanted to cry, and to be honest, so did I; Bill was still scowling, but I knew he was just as scared as the rest of us, he just hid it better.

Chuck shifted next to me uncomfortably, and because of how crowded it was, nobody saw me snake my hand to his side and slide it slightly behind him, rubbing his back a little for comfort. He looked down at me, fear in his eyes, but the rest of his face was calm. He was trying to be reassuring, and I gave him a smile for his effort.

I looked back to in front of me, and I looked across and saw Eugene sitting stiffly. He wasn't moving a muscle, his gaze was blank, he looked in shock. I stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out what he was thinking. I didn't know much about the guy. Did he have siblings? Was he thinking about his parents? What were his parents like? Did he have someone back home who was waiting for him?

He looked up, his dark eyes catching mine, but I quickly looked away and back down to my boots. I shifted in my seat and cleared my throat quietly, trying to get adjusted.

I might as well get comfortable, it was going to be a long, anxiety ridden flight. 


	5. I Miss You

A/N - Dear God, this is the longest chapter so far. It's almost ten thousand words and like twenty pages long. Have fun with this one.

Disclaimer - Read the first chapter's.

Chuck awoke when the fire started. I felt him jerk next to me, but I didn't look over at him, I just sat there silently, waiting for what was going to happen next. I didn't have to wait long, because the next thing I knew the red light had come on and Lieutenant Winters was standing up, fastening his helmet and making sure it was secure. He looked out at all of us and then he put out his hands, shouting, "Get ready!"

We all grabbed our hook, holding it out as we watched Winters order us around. We were all stiff with our movements, almost robotic. We knew how this went down, we've done it what seems like a dozen times, but really has only been five. We could also be so stiff because of what was really going on though. We had never jumped into combat before, every time we jumped it was into a field in America, and we knew we'd be safe and sound when we touched the ground, but not this time. This time, we could be facing the end of our lives.

"Stand up!" I stood, along with everyone else, and I ended up with Bill behind me and Chuck in front of me, "Hook up!" We all did as we were told, and then he shouted, "Equipment check!"

We all made sure the man in front of us was good, made sure everything was tied or hooked up like it should be, then came, "Sound off for equipment check!"

Everybody started sounding off, and then it got to me, "Seven okay!' Then Chuck went, and so on and so on. Eugene was towards the front, right behind Winters. Winters was looking out the door, waiting for the green light, and then the plane swerved and we were all stumbling around.

"Jesus Christ!" Somebody in front of me yelled as I kept a tight hold on my hook and held my helmet in place on my head as I tried regaining my footing.

The booming around us was so loud and I caught a glimpse out of the door, and what I saw scared the shit out of me. I saw a plane in flames spinning like a top and heading towards the grassy fields beneath us.

"We have to jump, sir!" Somebody in front of me yelled, but Winters shook his head, "We have to wait for the go!"

"We're gunna fuckin' die up here!" The same man said, and the man in front of Chuck was praying quietly.

I swallowed thickly as we waited and I heard another loud boom and after that the green light came on and Winters looked at us, but only for a moment, before he started shouting, "Go! Go! Go! Go!"

He jumped first, then Gene, and then so on and so on. Chuck looked back at me as the guy in front of him jumped, and he nodded curtly at me before he jumped. I released a tense breath before I sucked it right back in and jumped out of the door and into the line of fire. My chute opened four seconds later and I was falling swiftly.

I can remember my first jump. I couldn't remember the moment I left the door, but I remember the split second I was free falling, and then I remember my parachute opening and me swiftly gliding to the ground. I remember the joy I felt, the exhilarating experience it was. This was different. I don't remember leaving the door, that was the same, but I didn't like gliding this time. I wanted to be on the ground now, I didn't want to be up here anymore. I was terrified, I wasn't smiling, not like the first time.

I was actually surprised when my feet hit the ground and I was surrounded by tall grass. I grabbed my parachute and wrapped it up quickly before I took it off of me to stop the wind from taking it. I reached for my rifle, then realized I didn't have it. I lost in the damn jump, as well as that heavy ass leg bag.

I reached down and grabbed the knife in my boot, and at the moment I realized I was screwed. The only thing I had to defend myself was this six inch blade. It could do some damage, sure, but I'd have to be right up on the German's if I wanted to kill them. They'd get me before I even stepped one foot near them.

I kept low though, trying to stay out of sight as I began walking, then I realized another thing. I didn't know where the hell I was. I was so wrapped up in panic that I didn't even hear somebody drop behind me, I jerked and almost yelped when I heard the voice say, "Flash!"

I spun around and looked at who it was, and then I quickly said, "Thunder!" Then I took a closer look, "Liebgott?"

He looked at me, almost in distaste, but that was soon replaced with a scowl, "Tauscher," He said, nodding curtly as he took off his parachute and pulled his rifle off his back, "Do you know where the hell we are?"

I shook my head, "No idea. They scattered us all over the damn place."

Liebgott nodded in agreement as he looked around, "You any good with directions?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. You got a map?"

He looked at me and glared, "I ain't no fuckin' intelligence officer. No, I ain't got a map."

"Just asking," I said, looking around, then I said, "Let's just start walking, maybe we'll find a checkpoint."

"Yeah, alright," Liebgott said, then we started walking through the fields of Normandy.  
0-0-0-0-0  
We'd been walking for almost an hour at this point, and neither one of us had said a word to each other. Liebgott was walking ahead of me because he had the more effective weapon, while I just had this shitty knife. He had lost his leg bag, too. Quite a use that was, huh?

We were creeping through the woods quietly, the only sounds to be heard was distant gunfire and the crunching of the tree branches, grass, and leaves underneath our feet. The time was passing at a horribly slow pace, probably because Liebgott had refused to talk to me. I had to at least try to talk to him.

"So..." I started, trying to come up with something to say, "What'd you do before all this started?"

He cast a glance back at me, as if annoyed by that question, "What?"

"You heard me," I said with as much bite as he did.

He glared at me for a moment more before he turned his attention back in front of him before he answered my question, "I drove a cab in Frisco."

I nodded, taking that in. Then I asked, "Did you like it?"

"I liked it better than this," He told me as we continued walking, then it was silent for a moment, "What about you? What did you do?"

"I was in college," I said honestly, checking my surroundings as we walked, "I was working toward a bachelors degree. I was going to be a teacher."

"A teacher?" Liebgott asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yeah, a teacher," I said, nodding, "An English teacher, actually. Middle school, probably."

"You like kids?" Liebgott asked, and I nodded.

"It's part of the reason I wanted to become a teacher," I told him, then we were quiet again.

I had been wanting to ask him something for a long time, probably since Toccoa, but I didn't know how to ask it. How was I supposed to bring it up? He'd probably just hate me more for it, honestly.

We continued to walk in silence, nothing was happening. There was no enemy fire anymore, no weird sounds around us. We were just walking now, very quietly. It was starting to annoy me.

"Joe?" I suddenly spoke without my own permission, it just sort of slipped out.

"Yeah?" He said, continuing his pace ahead of me.

I was silent for a minute, releasing an anxious breath, but then I just said, "Why do you hate me?"

He stopped and I almost ran into his back. I looked up at him, waiting for him to say something, turn around and look at me, something. Then he did, "I don't know."

That surprised me. I was expecting him to deny it, tell me he didn't hate me, or something like that, but he answered me honestly and he continued walking. I furrowed my brow, a little bit in annoyance, "You don't know? Joe, you've hated me since I met you! There's got to be a reason!" I whispered harshly as I went to walking beside him instead of behind him.

"Well, there's not, okay?" Joe said, refusing to look at me, "I just don't like you. Some people just don't like others, it's not that big of a deal."

"Well, it is to me!" I snapped, glaring at him, "I've never done anything to you, and everyone else seems to like me okay, I just don't understand why you hate me."

"Just leave it be, Tauscher," Joe said, sounding a bit annoyed himself now.

"But-"

"Flash!" Somebody suddenly said, and me and Joe turned towards the voice in alarm and at the ready.

"Thunder!" We both said back, and the person came out from behind a tree.

I recognized him. The pale skin, the dark eyes, "Gene?" I said, raising one eyebrow.

"Tauscher. Liebgott," He said, looking at the both of us.

"You alright, Doc?" Joe asked, looking over our newest companion, making sure he was unscathed, which he seemed to be.

Gene nodded, and looked around the area we were in, "Yeah, I'm okay. What 'bout you two? Everythin' okay?"

Me and Joe both nodded and Joe said, "Yeah, we're fine. You know where the hell we are?"

Gene jutted a thumb over his shoulder before he spoke, "I was jus' headin' this way. I saw a bridge up through the trees, I think it might be our checkpoint."

Joe nodded and started walking that way, "Alright then, this way we go."

And so we went, another man in tow this time around.  
0-0-0-0-0  
There were dead German's all around when we got to the bridge, and a couple of dead horses. Some of us had been through here, and I searched long and hard for a weapon there, but came up with nothing. Looks like whoever killed them had taken what they could.

It was early morning now and we were all tired, but we thought we were on the right path. Everywhere we went, we knew somebody had been here before us. We came across a small area a little while later and found some dead paratroopers, and there weapons and ammo had also been taken.

It was about noon before I almost collapsed, my legs becoming weak from all the walking I've done in the past nearly twelve hours. My eyes were half closed and I was so tired I was lightheaded, I didn't even feel my knees buckle. I didn't realize what had happened until I felt an arm around me. I snapped open my eyes and shook my head, trying to figure out where I was as I straightened myself out.

"You alright, Colonel?" I heard Eugene's thick accent ask me.

I looked over at him and realized he was the one who had steadied me. I nodded and quickly jerked out of his grasp, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired," I said, yawning as I continued walking behind Liebgott, "Where the fuck are we?"

I heard Joe sigh and then I saw him look at me over his shoulder, his dark eyes narrowed, "Would ya stop askin' that? Jesus... Yer startin' ta annoy me."

"Starting to?" I chuckled quietly, "Joe, I've been annoying you since the day I sat down at the mess hall table, remember?"

Joe just grumbled to himself as he went on walking, trying his best to ignore me. I frowned a moment later and sighed, trying _my_ best to ignore _him_. We continued onward, all of us yawning every now and again. I wish I could find myself a weapon. It was weird being so empty handed. Joe was the only one who could defend us, since Eugene was a medic and medic's didn't carry weapons. He was probably scared shitless out there all alone before he found us.

We only walked for a few more seconds before Joe threw up a hand over his shoulder, silently telling us to stop, which we both did. I heard what Joe heard, it sounded like an engine. I furrowed my brow and swallowed thickly as Joe held up his weapon, ready to fire.

The sound got closer, and closer, and closer. I was tense, as was Eugene behind me, even Joe looked tense, but he was concentrated, he was at the ready. He steadied his weapon as the sound got louder, but after the sound presented itself a face, he slumped his shoulders and lowered his weapon, "Well shit."

The car stopped in front of us and we looked up to see who it was. The trooper in the seat smiled and looked down at us, his familiar black hair peeking out from underneath his helmet, "You boys need a ride?"

"Bill, are you insane?!" Joe cried, slinging his weapon over his shoulder by the strap, "Drivin' a jeep around on enemy lines, are ya tryin' ta get yourself killed?!"

"Oh, come on, Joe," Bill said with a cocky grin, "Nobody can get 'ol Wild Bill Guarnere," He looked over at the three of us, and he smiled at me for a brief moment before he looked back to Joe, "Hop in, I'll take ya ta CP."

We did as we were told.  
0-0-0-0-0  
"Hey! Easy!" I heard Popeye's call as Bill stopped the jeep and we all hopped out, "Where the hell have you guys been?"

"All over fuckin' Normandy, Popeye," I replied as he shook my hand in greeting.

"Well, how about that," Popeye smiled, "Us too."

I smiled and looked around, then I saw Malarkey, "What's with the long face, Malark?"

He just looked up at me for a moment and shook his head before he averted my eyes and continued smoking his cigarette. I raised an eyebrow and looked back up at Popeye, "What's the matter with him?"

Popeye shrugged, "I don't know, he's been like that since he finished talking to that Kraut prisoner."

I just hummed, giving Malarkey a weird look, but I brushed his odd behavior aside, "Well, I'll see you around, Popeye. I've got some catching up to do."

"Alright, see you later," He said as I then walked back over to Bill as Joe began talking to Popeye.

"Where is everyone, Bill?" I asked in concern now, frowning as I barely saw any Easy men.

Bill frowned now, too, which made my heart drop, "This is it, Maddie. No one else has showed up yet."

"What about Ralph?" I asked, then, a bit louder and with more alarm, "Chuck?"

"Ralph's fixin' up a little aid station over there," Bill told me, then he shook his head and slumped his shoulders, "Chuck hasn't showed up either. I'm real sorry, Maddie."

I frowned deeply now, feeling my heart stop. He was okay, he had to be okay.

"He's fine, I'm sure of it," Bill tried comforting me, "Chuck's one tough son of a bitch, he'll show up."

"I hope you're right," I said, avoiding his eyes as I looked down at my boots and then I went silent.

I heard Bill sigh next to me, then he spoke, "I'm glad yer a'right, Maddie. I can't tell ya how worried I was about ya'."

I forced a smile then, looking up into his dark, yet sympathetic eyes, "I was worried about you, too. I'm glad you're alright."

"Me too," Bill smiled, then he said, "Ralph's over in that buildin' there, I'm sure he'd be glad ta see ya'."

I smiled and nodded curtly, "Alright, thanks Bill."

"No problem, Maddie," He said back to me as he reached into his breast pocket for his cigarettes, "I'll see ya later, okay?"

I nodded and waved him off before I turned and went over to the makeshift Aid Station. I saw that Ralph had painted a red cross on the pillar outside the building, so that everyone would know what this was. I smiled at that for some reason, then I went inside the busted up doors. I walked into the Aid Station that looked like it used to be a bar or restaurant or something, and I saw it was mostly empty, except for Ralph, standing off to the side and going through his medical supplies.

I smiled as I walked in, looking around, mocking the expression of awe, "I like what you've done with the place, Ralph," I said, making him look up at me and I immediately saw the smile spread across his face, "You clean up nice."

My face broke out into a smile as well as he approached me, his arms open for a hug. Just a moment later I was laughing happily as I was enveloped in his arms tightly, so tightly I could hardly breathe. I patted his back a little and giggled into his shoulder, "Jeez, Ralph, did you miss me?"

He pulled away and held me at arms length, searching my face, making sure I was okay, "I was worried about ya," Then he hugged me again, "I'm so glad yer a'right."

I giggled into his shoulder again as he hugged me tight again, but this embrace didn't last as long as the last one. He pulled away from me a moment later, but his smile remained, "Ya look good. How was yer jump?"

"Well, I was dropped in the wrong DZ," I said, shrugging and Ralph scoffed.

"Yeah, you along with everyone else," Ralph said, "Was anybody with ya?"

I nodded, "Yeah, Liebgott and I found each other right away, and then a little while later, Gene found us."

"Where is he?" Ralph asked, seeming concerned for his friend.

"He's around here somewhere," I said, looking around curiously, "He'll show up eventually, this is where he'll be working for a bit, I'm assuming."

Ralph nodded and looked around the Aid Station, "Yeah, well... I tried my best with what I had. I hope it's good nuf."

"Hey, at least it has a roof," I said, patting him on the arm reassuringly.

"Yeah..." He said, looking around, then he said, "Hey, could ya help me with these boxes?"

"Sure," I said, going over to the counter with him and picking up one of the five boxes. I looked down in the one I held and furrowed my brow, "Is this all?"

Ralph nodded as he led me over to a shelf he was going to put all of this on, "I went 'round gettin' what I could from any man I could find. This was all I got."

"Well, when more of the men show up you'll get some more," I told him confidently.

"I sure hope so," Ralph said, "If more even show up, that is."

I went silent then, biting my lip hard. I swallowed thickly and tried to keep my strong front up. Ralph noticed my sudden silence, and when he was finished putting his box up on the shelf he turned to me and furrowed his brow curiously, "Maddie?"

Then he seemed to realize what he had just said and he knew what I was thinking, because his expression faltered and he went from curious to fearful and regretful in a split second, "Oh, Maddie..." He grabbed the box out of my hands and put it on top of a bookshelf to his left before he took a step towards me, "Don't worry, he's fine. He'll show up."

"Will he?" I asked, my voice wavering, "I mean, we were dropped all over the damn place, does he even know where to go? He could be on the other side of the damn peninsula for all we know!"

"Maddie-" But I didn't let him finish.

"I keep telling myself that he's okay and he'll be here, but... But who knows where he is or if he's even alive! He could be dead, lying in a ditch somewhere! The German's could've took all his stuff, and-"

"Maddie! Stop!" Ralph cried suddenly, grabbing my shoulders. I've never heard him raise his voice before. I stopped my long rant and sucked in a sharp breath as I looked into Ralph's dark eyes, "Breathe. Calm down. He's fine. Chuck is fine."

"But-"

"Chuck is always fine," Ralph said reassuringly, though his eyes held unknowing, "He will be here, I promise you," He searched my eyes for a moment and then offered me the tiniest smile, "Okay?"

I nodded, finally catching my breath, "Okay."

"Alright, good," Ralph said, "Now come on, let's get your mind off of all that. Help me with these boxes."

I nodded and Ralph squeezed my shoulders one last time before he released me and turned back to the box he took from me, taking it off the low shelf and setting it up on the high one that was bolted to the wall. He then turned back to me and we both went back to the front of the bar to get the rest of the boxes. As we entered the main room, the bell on the door jingled and me and Ralph both looked up and saw Eugene standing in the doorway, looking around.

Ralph smiled and stepped towards him a little bit, "Doc! How've ya been?"

"I was dropped in the wrong DZ," He replied, putting his medic bag down on the shelf by the door.

Ralph scoffed, "Yeah, tell me 'bout it. Ya wanna help with these boxes?"

Eugene adjusted his shoulder, but he furrowed his brow before he said, "Actually, I came to get Colonel Tauscher. Winters needs us."

I sighed and looked back to Ralph, "Sorry Ralph."

"Oh, it's fine," Ralph said as I grabbed my helmet and placed it back on my head before I started towards the door with Eugene, "I'll get it! Just leave me all alone to fix everything! I understand!"

I rolled my eyes and looked back him from the doorway, "Stop your bitching and get back to work."

Then I left, but I saw Ralph flash me a quick smile before I did.  
0-0-0-0-0  
This was it, my first real action. Me, Malarkey, Bill, Toye, Winters, and Hall were making the main assault, I finally got my hands on a weapon, too. Hallelujah. Medics stayed behind, we needed as many as we could at the Aid Station, and so far we only had four medics. Two from Easy, one from Dog, and one from Able.

Winters was running through the plan right now and we all eagerly sat there, waiting for his order to go. My hands were shaking slightly as they held the rifle, I was so nervous, everybody else probably was, too. None of us had ever shot a man before, well, I heard Bill killed a bunch of German's by the bridge, so that explains all of that since me, Liebgott, and Eugene walked through there.

"Alright, let's go," I heard Winters say and the main assault team followed him through some bushes as Liebgott and Petty stayed behind to set up their machine guns.

All hell broke loose a few moments later. Me, Bill, and Malarkey followed Buck as Winters went with Hall and a couple of the others. We were on our bellies a moment later, crawling through the tall grass as I heard machine gun rounds starting to go off and the cries of the German's.

We all stopped behind some bushes and Buck peered through, trying to see what was going on, then he turned to us and started flashing some signals. We all nodded in understanding before we suddenly stood and grabbed a grenade off our jacket. We looked to Buck, waiting for him to give us the signal, then he nodded and we threw the grenades, and they went off as soon as they touched the ground it seemed.

We grabbed our weapons from over our shoulders and ran down into the trench, ready to fire. Buck's weapon jammed, and he cursed as he tried getting it fixed, but thank God Don jumped up beside him and shot the German who was readying to fire at Buck.

We were then being fired at. I cried out in fear and cursed as I followed Don into the trench, ducking for cover from the spraying machine gun fire. I ran after as we tried reconnecting with Dick and the others, and we found them quickly. They were firing out at the field and the German's on the other side. I sat up and propped my weapon up, readying to fire.

In that moment, everything around me went quiet. I couldn't hear a thing but muffled gunfire and my own heartbeat and breathing. It was as if everything were in slow motion, this was it. I was about to fire my weapon for the first time. I saw a German, he was shooting at us, a determined look in his eye. He released a tense breath and aimed my weapon, ready to fire. I watched the man for a moment, realizing what I was about to do. This was war, I could have no sympathy for the enemy. I put a little pressure on the trigger, trying to work up the nerve to fire, and when I did, I flinched.

I pulled away from my weapon and stared out into the field, almost blankly as I panted, trying to find my breath, my heart beating quicker than it ever has before. The German dropped his weapon, his shoulders slacked, his knees buckled, and he fell to the ground, landing on his side. The expression on his face showing no emotion, his eyes open wide.

I had killed him. I had killed him with one shot right to the center of his chest, where his heart was. The noise around me got louder and I was soon back in reality, the men were screaming, both us and them. The guns were going off, bullets were flying, the smell of gun powder was in the air, everything was hazy.

I huffed and tightened my grip on my weapon, holding it up and ready to fire again. This was for you, Henry. I shot off round after round, nothing could stop me now. One German dropped, then another, then another. Then I heard Harry Welsh, "Good aim, Colonel!"

I was dropping more than they could count, they almost couldn't believe their eyes. But it turns out something can stop me. There was sudden pain in my left shoulder, and I cried out as soon as it made itself aware. I fell back into the trench, and I heard Don cry out.

"Tauscher!" He ran over to me, sliding to his knees next to me as he checked to see if I was okay, "Where're you hit?!"

"Shoulder!" I cried, writhing in pain, then I looked down and saw a small stain of red coating my jacket, "God! It fucking hurts!"

Don grabbed the collar of my jacket and he quickly ripped it open to see my wound, then I saw his eyes go wide and he looked at me with alarm. I looked up at him, pain in my blue eyes, "What?! What is it?!"

"U-um... You... Uh..." He said and then I looked down to see how bad it was, but then I saw what had shocked him. He knew.

"How bad is it, Malarkey?!" Welsh yelled, still firing off rounds at the German's on the other side of the field.

Don looked down into my eyes again, swallowed thickly, then he called back to Welsh, "It's a deep graze, sir!"

"Shit," I heard Welsh say as he looked over our way, ducking for cover a little bit, but he couldn't see me as Don was blocking his view, "You think you can get back, Colonel?"

I nodded, "Yes sir!"

"Alright, go!" He said, pointing up at the field behind us, "Go! Follow Popeye!"

I quickly covered myself back up and then, with much pain and hard work, pushed myself up and crawled up the hill after Popeye. As I crawled through the bushes and disappeared from sight, I could feel Don's gaze on me. I couldn't tell his feelings about this. Was he disappointed? Upset? Angry? Just surprised? I guess I'll find out later, right now I had other things to worry about. Like Eugene finding me out when I got to the Aid Station.  
0-0-0-0-0  
"Alright, you got your first wounded here," A soldier from Able company said as he led me and Popeye into the Aid Station.

Eugene was busy rifling through supplies when he heard the voice, and when he heard the word 'wounded' he stopped what he was doing immediately and turned around to face us. He looked at me and Popeye and quickly and quietly assessed what he was dealing with here.

He saw Popeye was limping and needed heavy support from the Able man, and he saw me wincing and favoring my left arm, my left shoulder slumped as my face was contorted in pain. He saw the blood seeping through my jacket and all over my shoulder and down my arm and chest. He seemed alarmed by this and quickly rushed over to me, calling over his shoulder, "Spina! I need some help out here!"

He grabbed me from the Able man and directed me to a makeshift cot, AKA, a table with a blanket on it. I sat down on it as the Able man led Popeye to another cot, helping lie down on his belly.

"What happened?" Eugene asked me as he began tearing my jacket, but I didn't have time to answer him, because Ralph suddenly showed up.

"What's wrong?" Ralph asked as he stepped into the room, then he saw me and Popeye, "Shit."

He went over to Popeye, since Eugene was dealing with me. He looked to the Able man and said, "Thanks Private, we can handle it from here," Then he looked down at Popeye, trying to find the wound, then I heard him groan, "Really, Popeye? A bullet in the ass is going to be my first wound to patch up?"

"Sorry, Doc," Popeye said, his voice layered thick with pain.

Ralph grumbled something as he grabbed some supplies off the counter next to the table, then he tore the back of Popeye's pants so he could assess the wound. Gene quickly pulled my jacket off of me and saw that the blood had soaked my undershirt, and he'd have to remove that, too. He ripped it open down the middle before I had time to say anything to him, but he only got it about half way when his eyes went wide and then a moment later his entire face turned beet red, and so did mine, but you couldn't tell because it was masked by pain.

"You're a- A- Woman?!" He was so shocked and embarrassed, he just blurt it right out.

Ralph flinched and turned to look over his shoulder at us, and I was giving him a pained gaze. He was giving me a reassuring look as Popeye then said, "What did you just say, Doc?"

Eugene swallowed thickly, not really sure what to do now. But I was in so much pain, I'd have to deal with my embarrassment later, "Doc! The shoulder!" I reminded him.

He jerked out of his shocked stupor and caught eyes with me, then he shook his head to clear his thoughts and he said, "R-right. Okay..."

Eugene grabbed a towel and cleaned the blood around my wound quickly so he could get a better look at it, he did this after he pulled my undershirt off my shoulder a little bit, his face turning a deeper shade of red, which I didn't think was possible, but he proved me wrong.

I winced when he wiped the blood away from my tender wound, and I watched him when he grabbed a bottle of something off the table next to me. He cleared his throat and shakily told me, "Don't worry. It ain't that bad."

"It ain't that bad? What do you mean it ain't that bad?" I asked, surprised at what he said, "It hurts like a son of a bitch!"

"It's just a graze, Colonel Tauscher," Eugene told me as he dumped the liquid in the bottle onto the towel and started cleaning my wound.

I cried out in pain as it stung my flesh, "Jesus!"

"Sorry," Eugene said, his brow furrowed in concentration, but his face still as red as a tomato.

I kept seeing Ralph look over his shoulder at me, a look of what looked like fear on his face, mixed with worry. Was he afraid for me? I could get kicked out of the Army and sent back home if any of the higher ups found out about this, I better make sure I'm careful with who's getting this information.

It took a little while, but Eugene finally got me stitched up and bandaged up. It didn't hurt as much now as it did before, but I could still feel the stinging around the area. Ralph was finishing up on Popeye as Eugene put his medical supplies down and then awkwardly wiped off his hands with the towel, avoiding my eyes. I was avoiding his, too.

Ralph looked back at us briefly, a sort of annoyed look on his face. He seemed annoyed by the awkward tension that suddenly hung thick in the air.

"You guys alright back there?" Ralph asked as he grabbed some scissors and trimmed the stitches on Popeye's wound before he set them down and grabbed a bandage.

Eugene was silent for a moment, looking down at his boots awkwardly. I was quiet, too. I was just sitting there, awkwardly prodding at my wounded shoulder, trying to see if I could still move around and fight with it. It seemed okay, it was just a little sore. There was a dark bruise around the area now, that was probably where most of the soreness came from.

"Did you know about this?" Eugene suddenly asked Ralph, causing me to jerk my head up towards him.

Eugene didn't look angry or upset, he just had that same expression on his face, the one he always had. Calm.

"Know about what?" Ralph asked, as if he were oblivious to the whole thing.

Eugene was suspicious of him though, and his brow sort of furrowed as he looked at the back of Ralph's head, he almost looked annoyed now, which surprised me. Ralph finished bandaging Popeye and he could still tell there was tension in the air, so he sighed and cut the bandage, tying it off and then setting the scissors back down.

"Alright Popeye, just stay here, alright? Yer goin' ta be fine," Ralph said, "We'll get ya outta here."

"Out of here? I just got here," Popeye said, seeming disappointed.

Ralph smiled and clapped Popeye on the shoulder, "Don't worry, Popeye. You can come back when yer all healed up."

Popeye offered a small, but still disappointed smile, "Thanks, Doc."

"Jus' doin' my job," Ralph said, then he walked away from the wounded man and over to me and Gene.

Gene was gazing at Ralph hard, like he was slightly annoyed by the man, "Well?"

"Well what?" Ralph asked, furrowing his brow in confusion as he threw up his arms.

Man, he was a good actor.

Eugene sighed, "Follow me."

Eugene walked towards the back of the bar where all the supplies were, and Ralph sent me a worried, but slightly annoyed look as he followed after Eugene. I sighed tiredly and, with much discomfort, slid off the table and onto my feet, following after the two medic's.

When I went around the corner, the first thing I saw was Eugene pointing a finger at Ralph sternly, his dark eyes narrowed, "How long have you known?" He asked Ralph, and Ralph threw up his hands again.

"Known what?!" Ralph asked, his voice higher than normal.

"That Colonel Tauscher's a woman!" Eugene said, but he lowered his voice so no one else heard this little conversation. Thank you, Gene.

"What?! I- No! Really?" Ralph cried, his voice still higher pitched than normal, "I-I had no idea! Honest!"

I revoke my previous statement of him being a good actor.

"So you did know," Eugene said, his annoyed front faltering. Eugene couldn't stay angry or annoyed for too long, it just wasn't like him.

"Was it that obvious?" Ralph asked, raising a dark eyebrow curiously and slumping his shoulders.

Eugene ignored him and just went on, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"She can't tell anybody, she could get caught and get kicked out," Ralph explained.

"Then why'd she tell you?" Eugene asked, seeming a bit confused.

"She didn't. I just sort of figured it out," Ralph said, shrugging his shoulders loosely.

Eugene sighed and ran a hand down his face. He seemed a little stressed out by all of this, "Does anybody else know?"

"Just Bill and Chuck," I finally spoke, my arms crossed over my chest, almost self-consciously as I stepped over to the two. Ralph and Gene looked up at me, and Gene's face suddenly turned red again, but I went on, "Bill knew before I joined the paratroopers, obviously, and Chuck walked in on me in the shower."

Ralph's eyes widened at that, "What? He did?"

I blushed a little at the memory of that, and now because Ralph had the image of me in the shower in his head. He didn't blush though, he just sort of smiled and winked at me, making me blush more as he said, "Lucky Grant."

"Shut up, Spina," I snapped, glaring at him.

"Ooh, feisty. I like that in my women," Ralph teased, and that's when I realized how uncomfortable Gene had become.

I looked over at him and saw his face was still red, and his expression had changed. He was no longer looking annoyed, he just seemed uncomfortable now. I cleared my throat awkwardly and said, "Look Gene, it's not that big of a deal. I'm a woman, yeah, but I can hold my own just like the rest of you. I think I've proved that."

"Yeah, I mean..." Ralph started, taking a small step towards Gene, "If she can survive Sobel, she can survive anything."

I looked to Gene, who was peering up at me slightly, "Come on, Doc. I'm no different than before. I'm still the same 'ol Matthew Tauscher, er well, Matilda Tauscher, actually," I watched him for a minute, trying to figure out what he was thinking. I gazed at him nervously, "You're not going to tell on me, are you?"

Gene looked up at me then, his face starting to go back to it's natural pale color. His blue-grey eyes looked me over for a moment, as if he were thinking about his answer. I was becoming nervous now. What was he thinking? I never knew what he was thinking.

"No," Gene said, shaking his head, "No, I'm not goin' to tell on you."

I smiled then as relief washed over me. I slumped my shoulders and said, "Thank you! Thank you, so much!"

I saw a hint of a smile grace his thin lips, but he soon spoke again, "Jus'... Jus' let me know if ya need anythin', okay? Anythin' at all, just ask."

Awe. How sweet.

I smiled giddily and nodded, "I will. Thanks, Gene."

I then stepped towards him and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him loosely because of my wounded shoulder. Gene didn't react at all, he seemed uncomfortable with this. I would be too, if I were in his position, but I really didn't care right now.

Ralph sighed and smiled at us, "Yeah... She's a hugger."

"Yeah," Gene said, patting my back awkwardly, "I can see that."  
0-0-0-0-0  
It was later that evening and I was alone in one of the houses in the small town we had occupied. Everybody was out either socializing, on patrol, or making plans for where to go next.

I was currently sitting at a table, shuffling a deck of cards I had found. I had nothing better to do, and the guys hadn't come back yet, so I've been sitting here for a few hours by myself.

So far a few of the others had found out about me being, well, a woman. Of course Bill, Ralph, and Chuck knew, and now Eugene, Don, and Popeye. Popeye told me he wouldn't tell anyone, and I trusted Popeye, he was a good guy.

I sat there at the small table by myself for a few more minutes, shuffling the deck of cards over and over and over again, about to fall asleep. All I had thought about all day was the boys. Was Bill okay? What about Don? Even Liebgott? But mostly I thought about Chuck. At least I knew where the others were, but with Chuck. I hadn't seen him in almost twenty-four hours, and I was becoming beyond worried now.

I was half asleep when the door to the building slammed open and I jerked awake, dropping my cards and grabbing my weapon in alarm, then I heard the familiar Philly accent, "Whoa, whoa! No need for a warm welcomin'!"

I slumped my shoulders and released a tense breath as I set my weapon back down beside me, then I smiled, "Bill."

He smiled and came over to me, setting his weapon down beside him and pulling out a chair, sitting beside me, "How've you been?"

"I got shot, but other than that I've been okay," I replied sarcastically.

"I heard," Bill said, looking down at my shoulder that had a blood stained patch over it, but it was dried into my jacket now, "How bad was it?"

I shrugged, wincing a little at the tightness in my arm, "It was just a graze, Doc said I would be fine in a couple of days and just to keep an eye on it."

Bill nodded, "Well, I'm glad yer okay."

I nodded too and then asked, "What about you? What happened out there?"

"It went well, I think," Bill said, pulling his cigarettes out of his breast pocket, "We only lost one guy. Don almost got himself killed though, stupid bastard."

"Who?" I asked, my voice low and holding barely any emotion. I was so drained from the past day.

"Who what?" Bill asked, his brow furrowed as he stuck a cigarette in between his teeth and shoved his cigarettes back into his pocket.

"Who was killed?" I asked, looking him in the eye now.

"Oh, Hall, from Able Company," Bill said, shaking his head, "Poor kid. Stepped on a land mine."

I swallowed and looked down at my feet. Bill lit up his cigarette and took a long, well deserved drag before he relaxed back in his seat. That's when he looked back over at me and furrowed his brow curiously, "What's wrong?"

I looked up at him briefly and forced a smile, shaking my head as I looked back down at my hands in my lap, "It's nothing."

"No, c'mon," Bill urged, leaning forward towards me, resting his elbows on his knees, "Tell me."

I shook my head again, then frowned. I was quiet for a moment, but I had gone completely stiff, "They know," I said blankly.

"'They' know what?" Bill asked snappily, furrowing his brow further.

"They know about, well... Y'know," I said, gesturing to myself.

"Oh," Bill said, then he was quiet for a split second before he asked, "Who knows?"

"Don, Popeye..." I trailed off, then I said, "Eugene."

"Shit," Bill said, slumping his shoulders, "How'd they find out?"

He was trying so hard to catch my eyes, but I refused to look up at him, "Well, when I got shot, Don ripped open my shirt to check the wound, and-"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Bill said, not wanting to hear the further details, "I'm assumin' that's how Doc found out, too?"

I nodded, "Yeah."

"What 'bout Popeye? How'd he find out?" Bill asked curiously.

"He was in the Aid Station the same time as me," I replied, still avoiding his dark eyes.

Bill just nodded and took another inhale of his cigarette, blowing out a long line of smoke a moment later as he exhaled. Then it was quiet for a moment and I could feel his gaze on me again, "Maybe ya should lie down for a bit, yeah? Ya look like shit."

I chuckled stiffly, "Thanks, Bill."

"Don't mention it," He said, taking yet another puff from his smoke.

We sat there in silence for a few more minutes and eventually I gathered up my cards that I had thrown down when Bill scared the shit out of me minutes before. I rearranged them and made sure they were neat before I stuffed them back into their pack and then stuffed them into my breast pocket where most of the men stored their cigarettes.

I was about to just lean back and shut my eyes, maybe listen to Bill for once when the door suddenly opened, but not with as much force as Bill had opened it with. I jerked up again at the sound of it squeaking and Bill cautiously reached for his weapon, but he didn't grab it.

The person who had opened the door suddenly came around the corner, a smile on their face as they said, arms out for emphasis, "Well, well, what do we have here?"

I suddenly beamed, becoming wide awake automatically as I laid eyes on his smiling face. I jumped up from my seat, my chair nearly falling over and squeaking against the wood floor as I burst into a run, "Chuck!"

He braced himself, for he knew what was coming. I slammed my body into him, burying the side of my head in his chest as my arms wound tightly around him, happy tears pricking at my eyes. I heard Chuck laugh, which made me smile bigger. I've never been so glad to hear his laughter.

"Did you miss me?" Chuck joked and I felt his hands on my back.

"I thought you were dead," I suddenly sniffled, hugging him tighter.

Chuck frowned then, and I felt his arms go around me now, "I'm okay."

My hands grasped at the fabric of his jacket, and I felt a few warm tears fall down my cheeks. Chuck looked up at Bill curiously and he sent Chuck a look then he shrugged. Chuck looked back down at me, choking back sobs into his chest. I felt his arms grab my shoulders and pull me back away from him, and I looked up and caught eyes with him. He had such beautiful eyes.

"I'm alright, Maddie," Chuck said, using his thumb to wipe the tears from my face, "I'm here now. I'm okay."

I looked up into his eyes and then brought my hands up, wrapping my arms around his neck and running my fingers through his thick hair, then I placed my hands on either side of his face, as if I were making sure he were really standing here in front of me, alive.

"I'm glad," I said to him quietly, then I stood on my tip toes, planted a kiss on the corner of his mouth, and then hugged him again.

His face went a little pink with my previous action, and I could just tell Bill was smiling at him, teasingly. Chuck just ignored him though, and his arms went around me again, pulling me closer as he closed his eyes and leaned his head against mine.  
0-0-0-0-0  
I woke up just a few hours later, it was still dark out, that's how I knew. Bill had left a little while ago, complaining of being hungry, and me and Chuck just stayed in and caught a few hours of sleep. We had leaned back against a wall and used each other as pillows, our heads resting against each other.

I woke up with a cramping feeling in my shoulder, the muscle there feeling tight. I got up slowly, careful not to wake Chuck. I stood and stretched, trying to get that tightness in my shoulder to loosen. I looked down at Chuck as he slept and smiled sweetly at him. He had looked tired when he walked through that door, but I couldn't imagine what it felt like walking all day and night to find CP. I was tired and I only walked half a day, the rest of it I spent basically relaxing because of my wound.

I reached into my breast pocket, trying to find my little journal. I pulled out my pack of cards and threw them on the table, then I pulled out my journal and tore a piece of paper out of it, grabbing my pen as well as I began to write. I had to leave Chuck a note. If he woke up and I wasn't there, he might become alarmed.

I wrote a short note, telling him I'd see him later, then I left it on the table. I put my journal back in my pocket, grabbed my weapon, and then went towards the door. I stepped outside and I immediately heard the sounds of other men in distance joking around and laughing, some of them talking. I smiled at how peaceful it was right now, because I knew all hell was about to break loose.

I stood there for only a moment before I turned and started walking down the road, to nowhere in particular. I stuffed my hands in my pockets after I slung my rifle over my shoulder as I walked at a steady pace. I looked down at my feet as I went, getting lost in my thoughts.

Chuck showing up okay really just lifted my spirits. I had been depressed all day, all I had thought about was him and his wellbeing. And then I got shot, and that really scared me, and- My God, I've been shot. That's really just sunk in. I got shot today. I didn't know what to think about that. How do you deal with that? What was I supposed to think?

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when I ran right into somebody, my head colliding with there chest. I stumbled back and made a small sound of distress when I ran into them, then I heard the soft, familiar voice, "I'm sorry, Colonel, I didn't see ya there."

I looked up at saw Eugene standing in front of me, the usual calm expression plastered across his face. I just offered him a small, tired smile and said, "It's alright, Gene."

He watched me for a moment, seeming concerned all of the sudden before he spoke, "Are you alright, Tauscher?"

I blinked and caught his dark eyes, "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You're a little pale," He said, "How's your shoulder?"

"Fine," I said with a shrug, then I winced and rubbed at it, "It's a little sore."

"I could give ya somethin' for that," Eugene said, pointing to my wounded arm, but I held up my hand and shook my head.

"Save all the good stuff for the real wounds, Doc," I said with a small smile.

Gene was then silent for a moment, looking me over again. He did that a lot, to everybody. It was as if he was making sure we were all okay. Physically and mentally.

"Chuck showed up," I suddenly said, and he caught my eyes again.

"Sorry?" He said.

"Chuck. He finally showed up," I said, smiling warmly.

"That's good," Gene said, avoiding my eyes again, "I know how close you two are."

I smiled at that and looked down at my feet. His next question made me look up though, "How'd you do it?"

I dropped my smile and eyed the gentle man curiously, "Do what?"

"Join the paratroopers," Gene said, trying to explain, "How'd ya even get through the physical? Surely they would've figured it out."

I shook my head and smiled cheekily, "I knew the guy doing my physical."

Gene's eyes widened a little at that, "What?"

I nodded, "He's my cousin."

I saw Gene smile at that, which made me smile a little wider. A smile looked good on him, I wished he did it a little more often.

"I'm sorry about, well... Earlier..." Gene suddenly said, and I looked up at him curiously. What was he going on about? His face was a little pink though, and he was averting my eyes again.

"Sorry? For what?" I asked, my brow furrowed as I tried to think of what he was apologizing for. He hasn't done anything that's worth apologizing for.

"For... Y'know... Rippin' your shirt earlier, and seein'..." He cleared his throat then, and now his face was beet red again.

I was blushing now, too, but I said to him, "Eugene, you don't have to apologize for that, you had no idea. You had to help me, anyway, it's kind of your job."

Gene smiled at that and briefly cast a glance up at me, and I flashed a smile back. I sighed through my nose before I spoke up, trying to clear the awkwardness in the air, "You want to... Walk with me?"

Gene looked up at me finally, his bluish grey eyes latching onto mine, and he smiled that soft smile of his and nodded, "Sure."

I smiled at him and began walking beside him, and on that walk was the most I've ever heard Eugene Roe speak in the two years I've known him.

A/N - We'll be getting into some Roe and Maddie business soon now, stay tuned. ;)


	6. Violence

A/N - I am so sorry it's been so long. I went through some personal problems that I had to work through, but I'm fine now. I'm sorry for such a long absence though, hopefully I won't leave you guys hanging like that for so long again. toomanyfandomssolittletime pointed out that Maddie's rank is higher than it should be, I don't know why I never noticed I got it wrong. She is a corporal though, not a colonel, sorry for the confusion. Thanks to him/her for the review though and telling me what needed work, I really appreciate it. This chapter is a little shorter, so I'm sorry about that, but I didn't want to cram too much into one chapter, I want to spread it out a little. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading.

Disclaimer - Read the first chapter's.

I don't think they liked this very much. I knew I'd just gotten lucky thus far, I knew eventually I'd run into the problem of somebody not accepting me. I got dirty looks from some of them, all of them holding different thoughts about me. Some seemed curious as to how I got here without being noticed, some wondered how I got this far, and some just thought the battlefield was no place for a woman and that I should just go home and stay there until this war was over.

I wasn't going home though, I was staying right here. The only way I'd be going home was at the end of this war or in a box, those are the only two options.

I heard them mumbling sometimes.

"Don't worry about them," Chuck told me as he leaned against a pillar and ate on some stale bread.

I was trying. I really was, but I've always been sensitive, I just kept all my feelings bottled up. I guess that's why I blended in so well with all these men for so long.

"How'd they all find out?" I asked him in a quiet voice.

Chuck looked around at all of the men, some of them staring at us, or me. He shrugged, "Somebody's slip of the tongue. Probably got back to Liebgott somehow, he's always had it out for ya."

I grimaced and looked around at all the men looking at me with judgment. Men who didn't seemed pleased: Perconte, Tipper, Toye, and especially Liebgott. Those were just a few. I don't think George knew yet, he didn't look at me funny and he still joked around with me. He either didn't hear or he just doesn't care. Bill and Chuck were being protective, which was a bit annoying. I could take care of myself, the others would get used to it.

"You don't think he'd tell any of the higher ups, do ya?" I asked, looking up at Chuck now as he threw his bread to the side, making a face of disgust.

He wiped his hands off and peered down at me before he shook his head, "No... I don't think so."

I hope you're right Chuck.

"Let's go! First Platoon!" Lieutenant Welsh suddenly called, making me flinch, "Easy's moving out! On your feet!"

I grabbed my helmet and put it on as me and Chuck headed over to stand with the rest of Easy in front of Welsh. I slumped my shoulders as I stood there between Chuck and Malarkey, who by now was getting used to the fact that I was a woman, but he was still a little iffy.

"Listen up! It'll be dark soon, I want light and noise discipline from here on," He said as everyone gathered behind me, "No talking, no smoking, and no playing grab fanny with the man in front of ya, Luz."

"So where we headed to, Lieutenant?" One of the other men asked, and Welsh simply replied with, "We're taking Carentan."

"That sounds like fun," I said, and I felt eyes on me once again, but not in a good way; I brushed it off.

Welsh went on talking about Carentan and I just looked around me. I don't think Lipton or Welsh knew about me, they haven't said anything to me about it at least. Shifty, Blithe, and Talbert didn't know, they just showed up. Bull seemed more worried about me than upset that I was here, I feel like he was one of those 'woman didn't belong in combat' kind of guys. Buck seemed the same way. Muck and Penk had been giving me some side glances, but they seemed too nervous to say anything, and Webster was like that, too.

"Another thing to remember boys," George's impersonation broke me of my trance and it was now that I realized we were moving, "Flies spread disease, so keep yours closed."

Everybody laughed at Luz's comment as we followed after Welsh, but I stayed silent and stuck close to Chuck. Even though I could protect myself most of the time, there were certain times when I needed a little protecting from someone else, but I'll never admit it. Not ever.  
0-0-0-0-0  
We had stopped in a trench somewhere in the middle of the night so we would be well rested to take Carentan in the morning. I was in a small foxhole by myself, my weapon lying next to me and my helmet fit snugly on my head. I was nervous, I wasn't going to deny it. My first battle ended with me getting wounded, hopefully this next one would go by smoother. I was more nervous for what would happen to my fellow men, though. I wanted us all to be okay, but I knew eventually somebody would be lost, every war has it's casualties.

"Flash," I heard, making me jerk, then I quickly responded with, "Thunder."

Then somebody jumped down into the foxhole next to me and I looked up and saw Bill standing over me, "Hey Bill, what's going on?"

"I was just lookin' for my favorite girl," Bill said as he sat down next to me, our arms smushed up against each other now, "Chuck said ya seemed a little upset, I just wanted to check on ya, make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine," I replied simply, crossing my arms over my chest, signaling to him that I wasn't fine.

"Alright, look," Bill said, trying to get comfortable next to me, "So what some of the guys don't like that you're a girl, ta hell with 'em. Why should you care?"

"Because Bill, what if one of them tells somebody in a higher position?" I asked, turning to face him, a bite in my words, "I could get sent home and away from all of you guys, not knowing if you were okay everyday. I can't go home, not until I've done my job."

"You're not goin' home, Maddie," Bill told me, giving me that look he always gave me when I said something stupid, "I'll have a talk with all the guys, I'll make sure they stay in line. Nobody's goin' anywhere."

I was quiet for a minute, stuck in my own head. He'd have a talk with them? He sounded like my father, but Bill would do anything for me, I knew he would. Hell, if it meant putting his own life on the line just to help me, he'd do it. He was a good big brother, even though he was younger than me.

"No," I said, shaking my head as I peered down at my boots laid out in front of me.

Bill furrowed his brow in surprised confusion, "What?"

"No, you don't have to talk to them," I said, my voice even now.

"Maddie, I'm not just gunna let 'em walk all over you like this," Bill said, a scowl on his face.

"They're not," I said, looking over at Bill now, "At least not anymore. I'll talk to them, don't worry."

Bill was quiet for a moment as he softened his features a tad, "Are you sure?"

I nodded, "Yeah. This is my problem, I'll figure it out, and like you said, who cares if some of them don't like me, not everyone is going to."

Bill smiled then, "Well, good on ya, stickin' up for yourself like you always have."

I smiled back at him, but stayed quiet. He knew from the beginning that I wasn't going to let him tell the guys straight, he knew that's not how I was, he just had to give me a little push. So I'd talk to the guys whenever I got a chance, but right now I had something else to worry about.

Taking Carentan when I woke up tomorrow morning.  
0-0-0-0-0  
We'd been practically laying on the gravel road for a good five to ten minutes now as Welsh and Winters went back and forth about the attack we were about to execute. Everyone here seemed a bit nervous, but we all tried to hide it. I was rarely ever nervous for myself, I was always nervous for the people I cared about. When I was a kid, if my little brother got into a fight or he fell out of a tree and got hurt, I was always there. I've always had an older sister mentality about me towards almost everyone I knew, even to those who were older than me, like Chuck.

I looked up when I saw Winters move, looking ahead at the town ahead of us. It looked dead, but I knew there were German's hiding in there somewhere. It was too quiet. Then Winters turned back and whispered something to Welsh, then our Lieutenant turned towards us and started motioning for us to get up, "Let's go First, let's go."

He then got up running and we all took action and started after him, Winters giving us a little motivation as he passed us by. I held my weapon to my chest and followed next to Martin, the only sound in my ears was the heavy pattering of our footsteps in the gravel, then I heard a German voice yell and then their was gunfire showering down all around us. I flinched at the suddenness of it and in fear as myself and everyone else quickly dove into the trenches on either side of the road for cover.

I held my helmet to my head in the upmost fear as some of the men still on the road dropped dead, but I tried not to look at them, I had to focus.

Somebody was yelling at us to get up and get moving, and the only thing I thought was 'were they crazy?' That's suicide. But they didn't seem to care, we had to a job to do and by God we were going to do it.

"Go! Go!" I heard Winters voice yelling now, "Move out! Move out!"

He was standing right out in the open. That was one brave motherfucker. I saw him pull Blithe to his feet and get him moving and that's when I gripped my weapon to my chest and breathed in and out a couple of times, trying to prepare myself, but before I could pull myself to my feet I was being pulled up forcefully by someone else. I was on my feet a moment later and I looked up and caught eyes with Liebgott.

"Come on, let's go!" He yelled over the gunfire.

I was confused for a minute, but I quickly listened and followed after him. He might not like me, but I'm still his comrade and we have to stick together.

I followed him down the hill behind the trench and around behind some houses, moving my legs as fast as I could to keep up with the faster man. We pushed through some shrubbery and jumped over a fence before we both took cover behind a wall, me behind Liebgott. He peeked around the corner and as he did that somebody in the street was shot in the head and they fell to the ground. I stared at their lifeless body for a moment, in pure shock, my blue eyes wide, but I was brought back to reality when Liebgott started firing off rounds up at one of the windows of a house down the street. I gripped my weapon tighter in my hands as he fired off round after round after round, then finally he stopped.

He turned to me and then motioned for me to follow after him as he started around the corner, me following after him, putting my rifle at the ready. I heard the cries for medic as I followed after Joe and my thoughts immediately went to Eugene. I hope he's okay.

Two men came from around a corner just in front of us and we both jumped and pointed our weapons, but it was just Tipper and one of the others that I didn't know well. Joe was quiet as he told them to follow after us, but we didn't make it too far when the man with Tipper was suddenly shot dead and fell to the ground.

"Sniper! Up there!" Tipper cried, pointing to the window to my left. I turned and aimed my weapon quickly, finding my target and firing. It hit him dead on and we kept moving.

I could hear English and German orders being barked all around me, and every once in a while one of us would fire at the enemy. There was an explosion somewhere to our left and I looked and saw smoke coming out a window, one of ours having thrown a grenade through it. I continued on with Joe and Tipper, watching men around us get wounded or killed. Now I understand why my father never wanted to talk about his time during world war one, and I'd only grow to understand it more.

A bullet landed right next to my foot and I jumped away from it and cried out, "Shit!"

Joe and Tipper looked back at me in concern, Joe looking me up and down then he nodded, "You're alright, come on! Keep up!"

We didn't go any further because a German came out the door in front of us, holding his weapon up in the air, barely paying attention; he seemed a little dazed. Joe shot him and he went down quickly, all of us a bit startled by the man who was just shot dead.

Joe pointed the large house up the street a little ways and up at the top right window, "There's somebody up there! Tauscher!"

"On it!" I cried, aiming up at the window and firing. I missed the first time and cursed under my breath as I cocked my weapon, ready to fire again and this time I didn't miss.

The gunfire seemed louder now at the center of town and when I looked to my left I saw Luz standing with Welsh and a few other recognizable faces running around. Joe apparently spotted them too, because we took off towards them. We rushed up to Welsh who was peering around the corner up at the window I just shot through. I looked to Luz, who looked terrified beyond belief as he caught eyes with each and every one of us.

"Tipper, take Liebgott and Tauscher and start clearing these buildings," Welsh ordered and Tipper nodded and ordered for us to follow him.

We took off to our right and towards the large building in the center of town. The gunfire was as loud as ever and I heard more explosions going off around me and in the distance, the yelling increasing, but it seemed to be more English voices than German ones, so that was a good sign.

Me, Joe and Tipper stopped outside the door and hid by the walls for a moment, then Tipper moved out and kicked the door in, throwing a grenade inside and then taking cover. A moment later it went off and smoke and debris poured out of the door and Tipper and Joe moved inside while I stayed out and watched their backs. I heard some gunshots from inside and a minute or so later the two emerged again and Tipper ordered us down the street.

I could hear Lipton yelling for us to spread out in the distance and we all shared a look before we heard him yelling, "Get the hell out of the street!"

We turned and ran down an alleyway to the street across it, then we turned a corner and we were on the other street now. We hugged the walls of the buildings as we went down the street as quietly as we could, trying to draw the least amount of attention as we possibly could.

I could see now that we were in a bit of clearing, the road in front of us almost an intersection. I looked across and saw a medic bandaging someone's leg and I took a closer look and noticed it was Eugene. A mortar went off behind us somewhere and he leaned over the body and held his helmet to his head, as if protecting the wounded man before he sat back up with ease and continued his work. He was determined. He was brave.

"Tauscher, let's go!" I heard Joe yell at me and I turned and saw we had begun moving again and I quickly scrambled after the two.

We turned the corner and way down the street we saw a pharmacy, and it appeared we'd be clearing it as we ran quickly towards it. We went under an overhang and took cover under there for a moment before Tipper moved us across the street and to the small building. Me and Joe were on one side of the door as Tipper looked in the window, seeing if it was clear to go inside. It appeared to be as he went to the front of the door and kicked it open, all three of us rushing inside. Me and Joe stayed towards the front and looked around as Tipper made his way to the backdoor. Me and Joe cleared the counter and everything up front and we peered around to look and see how Tipper was doing.

He had kicked open the backdoor and was peering out across at a shed, pointing his weapon at it. Joe motioned for me to follow him out the door and cover Tipper, so I followed him out. I heard Tipper yelling to ask if there was anyone in the shed then a couple of gunshots went off. I peered around the street, but saw only our men, the next thing I know my arm was being grabbed and I was being pulled away from the building and then an explosion went off inside.

I gasped at the sudden noise and light and looked up and saw it was Joe who had pulled me away from the blast, but my mind was on Tipper.

"Tipper!" I yelled, going towards the door, "Tipper! You alright?!"

Me and Joe came to stand in front of the door and Tipper had stumbled out in front of us. Oh God... He was covered in blood, from head to toe. One of his eyes seemed to protrude from his head and one side of his face was all gashed up, his black hair was caked in blood. I looked down further and saw his leg was in shambles, I was actually surprised he was still standings. I could see bone.

"Jesus..." I heard Joe say from next to me.

"Joe? Is that you?" Tipper asked, looking over to me a moment later, "Tauscher?"

"Looking good, Tip. Looking real good," Joe said as he set his weapon down and started over to Tipper, "Come on, you gotta sit down."

I watched in shock as Joe helped Tipper sit down. He wrapped an arm around his shoulders and used his other hand to help support the wounded man. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Joe muttered something under his breath as he looked down at Tipper's totaled leg, blood coating the both of them as they lay out in front of him.

"Hang in there, buddy," Joe said, looking down at the man, "We're gunna get ya fixed up. Alright?" Then Joe looked up at me and I've never seen his eyes so calm. How was he so calm? "Wanna give me a hand here?"

I threw my weapon over my shoulder and immediately stepped forward, snapping out of my shocked trance and kneeling down, throwing Tipper's arm over my shoulders gently as I helped Joe get him to his feet. Tipper groaned a little in pain, but we had to get him to cover somewhere. The gunfire was still going, but it had died down a little. Hopefully that was a good thing.

Tipper groaned again as we tried to move quickly and I said, "You're gunna be alright, Tip, just hang in there."

I felt Joe's eyes on me for a brief second, but they didn't feel annoyed or angry this time, I couldn't tell what emotion he was displaying, but I'd worry about that later, right now we had to find cover and a medic.  
0-0-0-0-0  
I walked into our makeshift aid station about an hour later. We had run the German's out of Carentan and everyone seemed a little uplifted by that. Victory gave us motivation for the next battle. I walked past what seemed like more than a dozen wounded men, one of them being Blithe who seemed to just be staring off into space. I furrowed my brow at him as I passed and then I saw Eugene cleaning his tweezers of blood.

"Hey Gene," I said as I walked up behind him, adjusting the strap of my weapon over my shoulder.

He flinched at the sudden voice and turned to look over his shoulder, smiling a small somewhat shy smile at me before he went back to what he was doing, "Hey Matilda."

I winced at that name and shook my head, stepping around so I could see his face, "Ugh, don't call me that."

I saw him smile a little at my reaction, "That is your name."

"I go by Maddie for a reason," I replied sarcastically and he chuckled a little.

"I'll make a note of it," He said, placing his tweezers down and throwing the rag he was using to clean them with to the side as he stood straight and looked down at me, "So what brings you here?"

"Two things, actually," I said, adjusting my standing position and relaxing, or at least trying to, "First off, Ralph wants to know if you have any scissors."

Gene furrowed his brow as he turned and grabbed the pair off the table next to him, turning back to me and handing them to me, "What happened to his?"

"Who knows," I said, rolling my eyes and shoving the scissors into my bag for the time being.

Gene smiled a small smile and briefly looked down at his boots, wringing his hands together almost nervously, "What was the other thing?"

"Huh?" I asked, looking up at him again.

"The other thing. You said you came here for two reasons?" Gene reminded me, catching my eyes with his dark blue ones.

"Oh yeah," I said, frowning now and avoiding his gaze by looking down at my feet, wringing my hands together now in worry, "It's about Tipper... Do you know anything?"

Gene frowned now too and slumped his shoulders, then he nodded slightly and tried catching my eyes again, "Yeah, I saw him when he was brought in... He looked pretty bad, but... I think he's gunna be okay."

I looked up at him now, a glint of hope in my eyes, "Really?"

He nodded in response, "I heard one of the other guys talking... They said he's gunna lose his leg, and most likely his eye. His war's over."

His leg and his eye. Poor Tipper. But he'd be okay, Gene said he'd be okay. I didn't really even know Tipper, I've never spent any time with him or had any real conversations with him, but he always seemed like a nice guy. I feel bad for him.

"Well, I'm glad he's gunna be okay," I said. I'm glad his war's over. I didn't say it out loud, but I meant it. None of these guys deserved to be here, they should all be at home with their families, safe and happy, but instead they were over here, scared and wondering if they'd ever go home. A lot of these guys signed up for this though, they willingly went into this knowing the consequences, and so did I. We wanted to serve our country, make her proud, make our families proud, keep them safe. So we'd fight until we won.

I slumped my shoulders, actually relaxed a little now and I offered Gene a small, tired smile, "Thanks for the scissors, Ralph will be glad."

"No problem. Just tell him not to lose 'em, cause he ain't gettin' another pair from me," Gene told me.

I smiled wider and nodded, "Will do. See ya around, Doc."

He waved me off and then silently went back to doing his job.  
0-0-0-0-0  
We only had a little while here in Carentan, apparently we'd be moving out again here pretty soon, so I tried not to get too comfortable. I was sitting on a step on the porch of a house next to Chuck, who was leaning against a wall, trying to rest at least a little before we left.

"You're alright though?" Chuck asked me in concern for what seemed like the hundredth time since we've been sitting here.

I rolled my eyes, "I'm fine, Chuck. There's not a scratch on me. Now would you stop asking me if I'm alright?"

"Well I'm sorry for being concerned," Chuck said sarcastically, holding up his hands in defense.

I rolled my eyes again, but stayed silent. I could feel Chuck's eyes on the back of my head, I could tell he wanted to ask me something else. He knew there was something bothering me.

"You want to ask me something else," I stated more so than asked.

"What's wrong?" He asked me, not missing a beat.

I shook my head, "Nothing's wrong. I'm fine."

I knew he rolled his eyes at that and I felt him scoot closer to me, coming to sit next to me on the step, our arms smushed together, "You're a horrible liar."

I sighed and looked across the street at all the soldiers either relaxing, talking, or getting ready for our next move. I shook my head again and slumped my shoulders, resting my elbows on my knees as I sat sort of hunched over, "Tipper got hit today."

"Yeah... I heard," Chuck said, but he didn't say anything else, he let me speak.

"It was bad, Chuck," I said, still avoiding his eyes, "I've never seen anything like it... There was so much blood. I could see the bone in his leg, his eye was..."

I shut my eyes, almost like I was trying to shut out the image of Tipper, bloodied and battered, from my mind.

"But he made it?" Chuck asked, his brow furrowed in concern.

I nodded, "Yeah, he made it. So far... Gene said he'd live, but I don't know... I find it hard to believe for some reason."

I felt Chuck's hand on my shoulder, comforting me, "If Doc says he's going to be fine, he's going to be fine... I didn't even know you were that close with Tipper."

I shook my head, "I'm not. But seeing him like that... It really got to me..."

Chuck grimaced and squeezed my shoulder, "War's not for the faint of heart, Maddie, you knew that coming into this thing."

I nodded, "I know... I guess I just didn't expect it to be so... So..."

"Real?" Chuck finished for me and I nodded.

"Yeah... That's it," I said, still looking across at all the men.

Chuck was quiet, his hand still on my shoulder, but it only remained there for a moment longer, then he said something else, unrelated to what we just talking about, "I heard you were with Joe today."

Distractions were good.

I nodded, a small almost sarcastic smile appearing on my face, "Yep. Indeed I was."

"How'd that go? I know you two got a rocky relationship," Chuck said, leaning back on his elbows.

I shrugged and finally turned my head to look at him, "Not bad actually. He didn't say anything worth a smack in the face once."

Chuck mocked the reaction of shock, "That's gotta be some kind of record for Joe."

I snickered at that, but our peaceful little moment didn't last long as Welsh started yelling for us to get off our asses so we could move out. I frowned and groaned inwardly at his barking commands, Chuck sort of laughing at my reaction as we grabbed our stuff from the ground and got to our feet.

"Come on, Tauscher, there's no room for complaining in this company," Chuck said and I rolled my eyes at him, adjusting the strap of my weapon over my shoulder.

"Alright Sobel," I replied sarcastically, earning a playful sort of glare from Chuck, making me smile.

"Come on Easy Company! Let's go!" I heard Welsh yell, then he said something to one of the other men who had yet to get his feet.

I sighed as I followed Chuck over to join the rest of our men. Here we go again.


	7. Please Take Me Home

A/N - Alright guys, this chapter's longer than the last one, but not as action packed. There's a little more drama with Maddie trying to get the company to accept her, and there's some more Eugene/Maddie stuff in this chapter. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading. :)

Disclaimer - Read the first chapter's.

"Ah Jesus Christ, Frank, I don't know... Until they tell us to stop," George Luz said in response to Perconte's very stupid question; it made me snicker a little.

"High ground," Hoobler said, seeming disgruntled as he trudged along, "There's high ground up ahead."

"Okay genius, answer me this then," Perconte went on, "Why is Easy Company the only company, who's either at the front of an advance or, like now, exposed at the far edge of the line?"

I smiled a little and said, "Because that's how much they love you, Perco."

George snickered at my joke, as did Hoobler, who seemed a bit nervous when I spoke up. Perconte stayed silent, almost like he was ignoring I was even here completely. I ignored him too, though, not wanting to get into this right now.

"It's to keep you on your toes," Hoobler replied to Perconte after he stayed silent.

"No, that's not what I'm sayin'," Perconte went on in an annoyed way, "I'm saying we're never in the middle, and we're the fifth of nine companies of this regiment, Able through Item. Think of it."

Hoobler seemed a bit annoyed now as Perconte went on, so he pointed up ahead and turned to look at the shorter man, "See there? See-"

He was abruptly cut off by sudden gunfire up ahead, all of us falling to the ground for cover, our eyes alert, "Contact right! Get in the hedgerow!" I heard Welsh yell from up ahead of us. Hoobler yelled back at Perconte as we all started crawling our way towards the hedges. As we got close to them we stood and ran, I could feel the bullets whizzing past me. I ran as fast as I could towards the shrubs, in the background of the whizzing bullets and other men yelling, I could hear somebody yelling for a radioman. A bullet hit right at the heel of my foot, causing me to jump in fear and stumble. I stumbled over and ran smack into someone, knocking the both of us to the ground.

"Ah shit!" I heard the other man yell and I looked up and saw George Luz lying next to me, looking like he was in a good amount of pain.

The bullets were raining down around us, so I quickly stood and grasped the fabric of Luz's jacket in my hand, pulling him to his feet with all the strength I could muster and then I pulled him along. I pushed him down behind the hedges in the trench and then jumped over myself, landing next to Luz and aiming my weapon over the trench, beginning to fire.

Luz was talking to himself beside me, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. I fired at the German's for a moment until I had to reload, so as I was pushing more rounds into my gun I turned and looked at Luz, "Are you alright?!"

"I cut my fucking hand!" Luz yelled in pain, cradling his injured hand, "It hurts like a bitch!"

I looked at him for only a moment longer before I turned and fired a few more rounds at the enemy. Luz laid next to me as I did that, cursing to himself as blood ran down his arm. What the hell had he cut it on? After I ran out of ammo for the second time I pushed back and slid down the trench a little to sit beside Luz. I set my weapon next to me and looked over at him before I spoke again, "Let me see it!"

"What?!" He yelled, having not heard me over the gunfire.

"Let me see your hand!" I yelled, grabbing his wrist now, getting blood on my own hands now. I looked down at the wound, but I was having a hard time seeing how deep it was with the blood covering it. I grabbed my aid kit hooked on my belt and opened it up, grabbing the small piece of cloth that I had stuffed in there. I used it to wipe as much blood as I could away from the cut on Luz's hand and when I could finally see the cut I noticed it wasn't deep enough for stitches or anything and the bleeding was starting to slow. I balled the cloth into a ball and pressed it against the cut, looking Luz in the eyes, "Hold this to it for a minute, try to get the bleeding to stop or at least slow down a little."

Luz nodded and I heard a quiet 'okay' come out of his mouth as I peered over the trench, the gunfire still going loud and spraying everywhere. I ducked when a couple bullets hit the grassy hill out in front of us and I held my helmet to my head and looked over at Luz. I reached down and pulled a bandage out of my aid kit and unfolded it, scooting back over to Luz and grabbing his hand. He looked over at me as I peeled the cloth away from the cut; it was still bleeding, but it was manageable now. I wrapped the bandage around his hand snugly and tied it off before I released him and looked up into his eyes.

He looked at me for a minute, a look I'd never seen before on his face present, then he just said, "Thanks," Then he broke eye contact and cleared his throat almost awkwardly as he squirmed away a little bit. We both laid on our backs next to each other for a while, letting the gunfire die down. I was tired, it had been a long day.  
0-0-0-0-0  
I had just drifted off into sleep when Luz plopped down into our foxhole next to me. He was so loud. I sighed irritably and opened my bleary eyes, looking over at the funny man as he messed with the bandage around his hand, "How is it?"

He flinched and looked over at me, "Jeez... I thought you were asleep."

"Well?" I asked as he relaxed his shoulders and looked back down at his hand.

He shrugged a little and replied with, "Doc said it'll be fine. It wasn't a deep cut, nothing to be concerned over."

I nodded as I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to drown out the sound of the German's singing across the field. They were starting to get on my nerves, they've been singing for over an hour. I sighed through my nose and Luz seemed to sense my annoyance.

"They're pissin' you off too, huh?" He asked with an almost amused smile on his face.

I glared over my shoulder towards the German's side of the field, "I wish they'd shut up. I'd like to sleep at least a few hours tonight."

"Maybe that's their goal?" Luz suggested, "Maybe they're tryin' to keep us up all night so we won't be ready to fight in the morning."

"But if they're singing all night, then won't they be tired too?" I asked with a small smile myself.

Luz smiled a bit wider at me and nodded, "Touché."

I smirked at that and closed my eyes again, trying to relax against the dirt wall of the foxhole. I was restless tonight, I've had a lot on my mind since the boys found out about me. Perconte definitely didn't like this, not one bit, and Hoobler seemed a bit uncomfortable. Chuck, Bill, and Ralph were my only friends here, even Eugene acted all nervous around me. But the man sitting next to me, I couldn't tell if he knew or not. He joked around with me and talked to me like I was just one of the guys, but then sometimes, like earlier when I bandaged his hand, he gives me weird looks, like he knows what's going on.

"George?" I suddenly spoke and I could feel his dark eyes on me, curious.

"Yeah?" He asked.

I released a tense breath and then asked, "You know, don't you?"

"Know? About what?" George asked, a furrow in his brow, but his voice went a little higher, which signaled to me that he knew what I was talking about.

"About... Me," I said nervously, clenching my fists at my sides, gripping the fabric of my jacket tight in my hands.

It took him a moment to respond. I knew he wanted to say something smart, crack a joke and be a smartass, but then he just sighed and nodded a little before he said, "Yeah... I know."

"Does everybody?" I asked.

"No, not everybody," George said, "Winters doesn't know, Speirs and Welsh don't know."

"But most everyone in Easy knows," It was more of a statement than a question.

George nodded, "Yeah, pretty much."

I looked down at my lap, feeling a little awkward now. It was weird having serious conversations with somebody I barely ever spoke to.

"They don't like me," I said simply.

George adjusted next to me and shook his head, "Well hey, that's not true. Chuck seems to like you well enough, and I'm assumin' Bill always knew about you."

"Chuck's known for a while," I said, "So has Ralph."

"Hoob likes you," George told me, shrugging his shoulders a little bit, "He's just a little nervous around you. He's never seen a girl so badass like you."

I smiled a little at that, but I kept my gaze cast downwards, refusing to look at him now. I still didn't know how he felt about all of this, "Most of the guys don't like it. I can tell."

"Oh come on, a lot of 'em like you, you just don't know it yet," George said.

"Like who?" I asked, actually curious.

"Well, Don likes you, he told me that himself, and Bull seems to as well," George said, counting them off on his fingers, "Web seems to like you. But to be honest, I think he might be in love with you, although he's always been a romantic."

I snickered a little at that, but then I said, "Okay, but then you got the painfully long list of men that don't like me. Liebgott, Perco, Toye, Cobb... The list goes on."

"Okay, first off, Cobb doesn't like anybody," George said, holding up a finger in a matter of fact way, "Liebgott's an ass, Perco and Toye will come around. You overthink it too much."

I shook my head, "I don't know..."

Joe's always hated me, even before he knew I was girl. Most of the guys here didn't dislike me to say, they just seemed uncomfortable with a woman in combat.

"Everything will be okay, I promise," George said, patting me on the shoulder like I was a brother, it's how he's always treated me.

"And what about you?" I asked finally, finally turning to look at him, his hand still on my shoulder.

"What about me?" He asked, that contagious smile of his still plastered on his face, "Do I like you? Matt, I like everybody."

"But are you comfortable with all this?" I asked him, nervous of his answer.

"Comfortable with you being a woman?" George asked and I nodded. George adjusted his shoulders and answered me honestly, "Honestly, not at first. When I found out about you a couple days ago, I was kind of weary. I mean... Women aren't as fit as men when it comes to all of this. War, I mean."

I raised an eyebrow at him, asking him a silent question.

"But," He went on, holding up that finger again, trying to protect himself from his previous comment, "You've kinda proved that wrong... I've seen you out there, you fight just as hard as the rest of us guys, if not harder. And earlier, you were fightin' off them German's and in between reloads you were fixing up my hand. Thanks for that, by the way."

I smiled at him now, "No problem... So, you're really okay with all of this?"

"I am now, yeah," George said, nudging me with his shoulder, "You're alright, Matt."

I smirked and looked down at my hands in my lap, "Thanks George."

"It's not a problem, Corporal Tauscher," He replied back to me, I could just feel him smiling.

Well, at least I knew I had another friend. Hopefully the rest would warm up to me, or else I'd be in for a lot of trouble.  
0-0-0-0-0  
I woke up at about eight thirty the next morning, it was seemingly very quiet besides the chatter of a few of the men. I hadn't fallen asleep until about three o'clock, so until then George talked me to death. He just doesn't shut up, he was telling me about pretty much everything. What he did back home, what he wanted to do when he got back, what his hobbies were, I'm pretty sure he even discussed in depth his favorite color. Sometime around midnight though, Tab got stabbed by Smith with a bayonet. Smith says he thought Tab was a German, he was pretty torn up about it.

I woke up to a gentle snoring beside me and turned my head to look, my neck a little stiff. George was sleeping soundly beside me, his head on my shoulder. I rolled my eyes and nudged him with my shoulder, waking him up immediately.

"Wha..." He jumped, looking around sleepily.

I winced and moved my arm a bit, trying to stop the pins and needles in it, "I was wondering why I couldn't feel my arm."

George looked over at me and rubbed at his eyes, then he smiled almost sheepishly when he realized what position he had been sleeping in, "Sorry."

"That's alright," I said, grabbing my weapon and standing, "I'm gunna go and stretch my legs, I've been cooped up in here all night, you laying on top of me doesn't help any."

George seemed a bit embarrassed over that, but I was just teasing him. I smiled at him smugly before I crawled out of our foxhole and up onto flat land. I stretched my arms over my head and stretched my neck before I slung my rifle over my shoulder and began to walk, George having already lit up a cigarette as I began walking away.

The men's bitterness towards me was starting to get on my last nerve. They were all either bitter or nervous, I didn't want to make them all feel that way. The ones who were nervous I could forgive a little easier, they just didn't know how to feel, I think they could get used to me, but the ones who were angry I was here, they could get over themselves. I wasn't going anywhere, they'd just have to deal with that.

I adjusted the strap over my shoulder and stretched my opposite arm, the feeling still not completely back yet. George was heavier than he looks. I sighed and walked a little faster, needing a little space for a minute. I'm becoming a bit overwhelmed, but I had no right to complain, everybody was a bit overwhelmed right now, we were in the middle of a fucking war.

"Corporal Tauscher?" I heard a familiar voice say my name, and I turned and saw Eugene standing behind me, a cigarette in between his fingers.

"Oh, hi Gene," I said, offering him a small smile.

He looked me up and down, a look of concern on his face, "Are you alright?"

I nodded, smiling a little wider to let him know I was, in fact, alright, "Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine. Just... A little anxious, is all."

Gene nodded, taking a puff of his cigarette, "I know what you mean."

I looked at the cigarette in between his fingers and asked, "Is that why you're chain smoking?"

He looked down at his feet where two other cigarettes lay and then he looked back up at me, a sheepish look on his face, but he stayed silent and took another drag, averting his eyes.

I smiled and took a couple steps closer to him, "You know, talking helps... Instead of standing out here smoking your anxiety away, you could talk to somebody, keep your mind busy."

He nodded a little and looked at me, but not in the eyes, "Then why are you out here all alone?"

I frowned then, averting my eyes now, slumping my shoulders and releasing a somewhat tense breath, "I don't know..."

I could feel his eyes on me, but they weren't judgmental, they were concerned. I shrugged again, "I've just had a lot on my mind lately, and... I guess I thought a walk would help, but being alone with your thoughts isn't exactly... You don't want to hear this. I'm fine, really."

I began to turn and walk away, but I felt his hand grab my shoulder, stopping me, "Wait," He said, keeping his hand on my shoulder, "You can talk to me. I'm a medic, I'm supposed to help the men when something's wrong, and obviously something's wrong."

I smiled a little and turned to face him; he dropped his hand from my shoulder and looked me in the eye in concern, "A medics job is to help a man when he's been physically wounded, not when he's having emotional problems."

Gene sort of shrugged, "Who says?"

I looked at him for a moment, both of us quiet, the only sound to be heard was the leaves rustling, the birds chirping, and the men in the distant talking. I sighed and averted his gaze for a moment, trying to get my thoughts on track, then I looked back up at him and asked, nervously, "Do you like me?"

Gene was quiet for a minute, as if he had to think about what I just said, but he responded with a simple, "What?"

"Everybody around here is so nervous to be around me, they seem scared that I'm here, like I'm too fragile to be out there fighting off the German's, well I'm not. I am not fragile, I am not weak, I can hold my own!" I cried, anger seeping into my voice, "I'm not like other women, I'm not somebody that needs to be taken care of! I can fight just like all you men! Why is that so hard to understand?!"

"Matilda, calm down," Gene said, taking a step closer to me, holding out his hands.

"Answer the question, Gene!" I cried, but I was trying to be a little quieter, not wanting to alarm the other men, "I know you don't know me that well, but every time I'm around you, you're all nervous and-and, it's like you're trying to avoid me!"

Gene shook his head, "No, no I'm not trying to avoid you. Calm down. Breathe."

I was going to snap again, but I felt his hand on my arm near my wrist, and it calmed me down somehow. I breathed like he instructed me to as I looked up into his eyes. He seemed nervous, but I was pretty sure that was just because of my outburst.

"Everybody here avoids me," I said, "I can count on one hand the men here who actually talk to me and don't treat me like I'm some sort of freak that doesn't belong."

"Well, you don't belong," He said, and I was angry for a moment, but then he continued, "But none of us do. We were all dragged out of our lives back home to come fight this war, none of us want to be here. But we signed up because we wanted to help, you're just doing what everybody else did. You wanted to help, and... I admire you for that."

I smiled a little at his words, "Really?"

A tint of pink showed up on his cheeks, but he nodded, "Yes, really."

I smiled a little wider now, falling back into my sarcastic and teasing nature, not really used to being all emotional and gushy like that. I punched him on the arm lightly and smiled teasingly, "Who knew Eugene Roe had a way with the ladies."

That made the pink on his cheeks turn a deeper shade of red, and that just made laugh. He scratched at his arm nervously, avoiding my eyes. He was shyer than I thought.

I smiled warmly now as I said, "Thanks, Gene."

He finally looked up at me, his face still red, "Yeah... No problem, anything I can do to help."

I nodded and looked down at my boots for a moment before I said, "Well... I guess I'll go find Chuck, get out of my head for a while... You should do the same."

Gene looked me in the eye, then he nodded but stayed silent. I smiled at him one last time before I started past him, going to find Chuck's foxhole. I only made it a few steps before he called after me, "Matilda."

I turned to face him, "Yeah?"

He was quiet for a moment, almost nervous as he clasped his hands at his waist, "I do like you..."

He acted like he wanted to say something else, but he never did. I smiled and said, "I like you, too, Gene," He smiled a little at that, and then I said, "But if we're gunna be friends, you need to learn to do one thing."

He frowned and raised an eyebrow, "What's that?"

"Stop calling me Matilda."  
0-0-0-0-0  
A few of the men had been wounded that afternoon in that trench, a few had been killed, but we were mostly okay. The battle was seen as a victory. Later Blithe was shot in the neck, but he was going to be okay, but his war was over. He stayed in France for a while to heal until he was well enough to be shipped back to England. We'd all been taken off the front line, we went to a camp north of Utah Beach. We'd all had hot meals and showers, they sure felt nice. We were shipped back to England a few days later, and that felt much nicer. I was glad to be off the line, even if it was just for a little bit.

The boys had all found ways to keep themselves busy until we got orders, some hung out with the locals, some went to the movies, and of course, a lot of the guys went to bars and tried to hook up with some of the local women. I hadn't been doing too much, I'd just been relaxing. I hung out with Ralph, Chuck, and Bill, my boys, and George had become a pretty close buddy the last couple of days, and I think Don was coming around a little bit. Gene still acted a bit nervous around me, but I noticed he acted that way around a lot of people. He wasn't quite as social as the rest of the guys.

I'd been taking a walk one day before dinner, enjoying the nice weather of England. I had my hands in my pants pockets as I walked along, a smile actually on my face. I was so glad to be back in England, so were the rest of the boys. Eventually I stumbled across a few of them in the street playing basketball and I smiled. Me and my little brother loved basketball when we were younger, we used to play it all the time, that is until he broke the hoop.

I smiled and walked towards the men playing, spotting Chuck and George, seeming to be on opposite teams, as George was blocking Chuck who had the ball. On George's team was Perconte and on Chuck's team was Don, and I saw Bill leaning against the wall a few yards from the 'court,' seeming a bit annoyed.

"Hey boys, who's winning?" I asked as I strolled up to them. I seemed to distract George as he looked over at me and as he did that Chuck ran around him and threw the ball into the hoop. He smiled and patted George on the back as he passed.

"You gotta stay focused, George," Chuck smiled as he looked over to me and said, "Me and Don are winning."

I nodded and smiled, "Good," Then I looked over at Bill as I crossed my arms over my chest, "What's wrong with you?"

"He's mad because he can't play," Don informed me, bouncing the basketball and wiping sweat from his forehead.

"Why not?" I asked, looking over at Bill.

"Cause the teams aren't even," Bill said, "We were going to all play, but Perco here started whining about 'it's not fair! It's not fair!'"

I snickered a little at that as Perco spoke up, "I don't sound like that!"

"See what I mean with the whinin'?" Bill asked and I snickered.

"Well, the teams are even now," Don said, looking towards me, "Want to play, Tauscher?"

I looked over at him, a little surprised that he invited me. He must really be warming up to me, or at least he was trying to. I smiled and nodded, "Yeah, sure. But I'm warning you, I'll probably kick your ass."

"Not if you're on my team," Don smiled, passing me the ball.

I smiled and nodded, "I was gunna pick you guys anyway."

"Okay, ouch," George said, throwing his hands out and giving me a look that made me giggle.

"Only because I know you can hold your own, George," I said to him.

"And she can lift a man's spirits, you know how to pick 'em, Chuck," George said, smiling sarcastically at him.

"For the last time George, we are not together," Chuck said, amusement and irritation in his voice.

"Really?" Don asked, that same sarcastic tone in his voice, "You two sure do spend a lot of time together."

"Can't a man and a woman just be friends?" I asked, bouncing the ball.

"In my experience, no," Don said to me, a smile on his face as I passed the ball to George.

"Let's see what you got, Luz," I said, getting into a position to block him.

George bounced the ball as he looked up at the hoop, trying to get a strategy going here. I blocked him well, so he passed it over Bill who was being guarded by Don, but Bill shot the ball and it went right into the hoop, bouncing down in front of Perco.

"Hey, we finally got a point!" Perco cried in joy as he looked over at Bill, "Thank God, George here can't shoot a ball to save his life."

"Why is everybody being mean to me today?" George asked, mocking a hurt expression.

Perco passed the ball to me, a little roughly I might add, but I took it and started dribbling it. We played basketball for about the next ten minutes, and Bill seemed to the be the best player on his team, George was better at blocking than he was shooting, and Perco was a decent player. We had height advantage on our team, Chuck was nearly six foot, which on average was just above average, but when you've got nobody over 5'8 on the other team, it helps. Chuck was pretty good at basketball, as was Don. And, to everyone's surprise, I was pretty good too.

"Did you play or somethin' when you were a kid?" George asked curiously as I dribbled the ball, my eyes focused on the hoop.

"Just with my brother," I said, juking him out and running around him, jumping and shooting the ball, watching it fall through the net.

"Damn," George huffed out through a tired breath.

"Here George, let's give you a turn," I said, tossing him the ball.

"Oh great," Perco said, seeming disgruntled by this.

George shot him a look, but he didn't say anything to my surprise. George started dribbling the ball as he looked up at the net, I was blocking him decently. George pulled exactly what I just did and juked me out, running around me and shooting the ball, and it fell through just like it did when I shot it.

"Oh, look at that!" George cried with a wide smile, holding his arms out as he gloated, "George Luz can shoot the ball in! Did you see that, Frank?"

"Yeah, yeah, I saw it," He said as he reached down and picked up the ball, tossing it over to Don.

George went to block Don as Perco came over to block me. I stayed at the ready as Don looked from the hoop to Chuck and me, seeing who was open. Bill was quite aggressive when he blocked, as was Perco, but apparently Don thought I had a better chance, as he threw the ball over the me. I caught it and dribbled it, trying to juke out Perconte, but he wasn't falling for it like George had. I tried to juke him out again and run around him, but he blocked me, a little too aggressively and I went crashing to the ground, landing on my elbows.

I felt the burning pain on my arms from landing on the concrete, and there was a little bit of that pain in my lower back as well, but I ignored it and jumped to my feet, glaring at Perconte, "What the hell's your problem?!"

He's been rough with me this whole game.

"I don't got a problem," Perconte snapped, glaring hard at me.

"Alright pal, listen here-" Bill suddenly spoke up, his brotherly protective urges washing over him as he stepped in front of Perconte, poking him in the chest harshly, but I cut him off.

"No Bill, it's fine," I said, slumping my shoulders in annoyance, "Everything's fine. I understand you don't like me, Frank, and I understand you don't like that I'm a woman in a war, but you're just going to have to get over it, okay? You can keep being a jackass, you can keep knocking me down, but the truth is I'm just gunna get right back up. I'm not going anywhere, so you just need to get used to it, everyone else is."

"Not everybody," Perconte said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Most everybody," I said, which was true. A lot of the men weren't comfortable, but only a handful seemed actually this upset over the whole thing. I reached down and picked up the basketball, glaring over at Perconte, "If you didn't want to me to play you should've just said so."

Then, with that, I threw the ball at him, hard. He caught it at his chest and watched me as I stormed away, wanting to be alone for a few minutes. I could see the blood dripping off my arms, but I ignored that. I'll clean up in a little while. I could feel my eyes stinging, which made me angry. I bit my lip to try and stop it from happening, but when I walked around the corner, disappearing from their sight, the tears fell.  
0-0-0-0-0  
About an hour or so later I showed up at our little makeshift aid station, the one we used we were training here. I needed some bandages for these places on my arms. I walked into the building and I saw Ralph putting some stuff in a box, his face holding a concentrated look.

"Hey Ralph," I said, not really knowing what else to say.

He looked up and turned his head to look at me, "Hey Mad- What the hell happened to you?"

I looked down at my arms as Ralph put down his box and started over to me, "I... I fell."

Ralph scoffed, "Yeah, and I'm the Queen of England. Did you get into a fight or somethin'?"

I watched as Ralph grabbed my right arm and inspected it, that concentrated look returning to his face, "Sort of."

"Come on, sit down," Ralph said, directing me to a chair.

I walked ahead on him and over towards the chair, then I felt him lift my shirt to look at my back. I turned and glared at him, smacking his hands away, "Jeez Ralph, do you have no boundaries?!"

"No," Ralph said, then he said, "Your shirt was covered in blood, you got a scrape on your back."

I turned to look and saw the red stain on my white t-shirt. Ralph grabbed my arm and directed me to sit down. After I was sat down I saw Ralph grab a cloth and go and wet it in the sink by the window. I shook my head, "I don't need you to clean me up, I just need some bandages."

"You got dried blood all up and down yours arms and back," Ralph said, "I'm gunna clean you up."

"I can do that myself," I said stubbornly.

"Nah, I'm gunna do it," He said, just trying to annoy my now I was sure.

"Ralph, I swear to-"

"Oh, I see," Ralph said, smiling deviously now, "You don't want me to clean you up, because you came here looking for the other guy."

I blushed a light pink and glared at him harder, "I really can't stand you sometimes, you know that?"

"Oh Eugene!" Ralph yelled in an almost girly voice.

I blushed a little harder and smacked Ralph on the arm, "Ralph!"

I could hear footsteps approaching and Ralph sent me a look, but I just glared at him, "You'll thank me later."

"I swear to-"

"What happened?" I heard the familiar Cajun voice, making me and Ralph both look over to see Eugene standing in the doorway, looking curiously at me.

"Maddie here 'fell' and hurt herself," Ralph said, putting the word 'fell' in air quotes, "I've got to get these supplies to HQ, so... It's up to you, Doc."

Gene nodded, "Okay."

He started over to me and Ralph winked at me, flashing me his smug little smile, "See ya later, lovebird."

"I'm going to kill you," I whispered harshly and Ralph just laughed, going over to grab the box of supplies and then he headed out of the front door, "See you two later."

I sent him a look as he went and he just smiled as Gene stopped in front of me, "What happened?"

I looked up at him and into his concerned dark blue eyes, then I shook my head, "Nothing, I just... I got into a little scuffle, that's all."

Gene seemed like he wanted to say something about that, but he decided against it and he gently grabbed my arm, looking at the dried blood that ran down it.

"Really, it's not that bad," I said, "It looks worse than it actually is."

"I'll clean it up for you," Gene said, grabbing the already wet washcloth next to where I was sitting.

He twisted my arm a little to get a better view of what he was doing and he started scrubbing the dried blood from my arm. I sighed and watched him work for a minute, staying completely silent. My arms did sting a little from where I fell, and my back did hurt as well.

"So," Gene said, dabbing at the scrape on my elbow, "Did you hear about us moving out again?"

I looked up at him, but his eyes were still focused on my arm, "Yeah... Yeah, I heard... I guess I should go write my will, I haven't done that yet."

Gene's grip sort of tightened on my arm and he cast a glance up at me for a brief moment, but he quickly returned his gaze to my injury, but his grip remained the same.

"I guess I'd give everything to my mother if anything ever happened to me," I said, "My record player would of course go to my brother, he'd like that."

Gene stayed quiet, obviously not wanting to talk about people dying. I looked at him for a minute, curiosity in my blue eyes before I asked, "Do you got any brothers or sisters?"

He seemed a bit confused at the sudden question and sent me a weird look, "Sorry?"

I shrugged slightly, "I don't know that much about you. I talk about me all the time, I want to learn some more about all the guys in the company. All I know about you is that you're Cajun and shy."

He looked at me for a moment as he grabbed my other arm, then he looked down at it and started clean it up, "I have two sisters and two brothers. I'm the middle one."

"Do these siblings have names?" I asked curiously.

"Minnie and Winnie are my older sisters," Gene told me, prodding at the scrape on the back of my arm, "And Charles and John are my little brothers."

I would have never expected him to have that many siblings, with him being so secluded and all. I was always a bit shy myself when I was younger, but I always liked making friends and I kind of grew out of my shy state. I opened my mouth to say something else, but he beat me to it.

"Minnie was upset when I told her I joined the Airborne, she got real mad, started yellin' at me," Gene told me, which surprised me a little, "Winnie just cried, then they were both upset when Charles told them he joined the Navy. John's eighteen now, he told me he wanted to be in the Airborne like me, but he can't join because he has seizures, so he's helping with shippin' supplies back home."

"Well... What are they like? Your family?" I asked, actually intrigued by his stories, I kind of just like listening to his voice as well.

Gene smiled a little at that question, "They're kind people, we all look out for one another. Minnie, bein' the oldest, she's protective. I got picked on a lot when I was younger, she was always there to straighten it out, even though she made it worse sometimes."

"How?" I asked curiously.

"Well, instead of bein' picked on for being smaller than everyone else, I was picked on because my sister always came to my rescue," Gene said, an amused smile on his face.

I couldn't imagine anyone being mean to Gene, he was such a nice guy. The nice guys were always the targets though, it seemed. I scoffed, "Yeah, that's how I was with Bill, sometimes."

"Winnie is more sensitive. She spends her time out on the front porch, readin'," Gene went on, putting the washcloth down and getting up, going over to find some bandages, but he went on with his story, "There was this boy down the street, Luis, he was always tryin' to get her attention. Minnie wasn't havin' that, though."

"What'd you think of it?" I asked and he looked over his shoulder at me.

He just shrugged, "I didn't care too much. He was nice, he liked her well enough and she liked him. I try not to get into other people's business too much."

I smiled at that, "What about your brothers, what're they like?"

"Well, Charles is the tough one, he don't let nothin' bother him," Gene said as he came back over to me and sat back down in his chair and tore open one of the bandages, "Unless somebody was talkin' 'bout his family, of course. He used to beat other kids up if he heard 'em talkin' badly about us. He got suspended for a week once because of a fight."

"Jeez," I said, "I used to get into fights too, but they never got that bad."

"My Pop broke his arm during the depression and was laid off work, we didn't have a lot a' money comin' in," Gene said, "Apparently somebody said something to Charles about it at school and he jumped the poor kid."

"Well, I guess that taught him to keep his mouth shut," I said with a smile, Gene smiled as well as he finished bandaging my left arm, moving on to the other one.

"John's tough, too, he tried joining the Army while hidin' his epilepsy," Gene said, shaking his head with an almost proud smile, "Idiot got so stressed out about it he had a seizure durin' his damn physical."

I smiled as Gene went on, "Ma was always real nurturin', but she's tough as nails, too. She's always in the kitchen, she loves to cook. But if she's got that wooden spoon and that look her eye, you know to get out of her way."

I giggled at that as he finished bandaging my other arm. I looked down at them both and saw them all cleaned up now, not in as much pain as I was before. I smiled and looked over at him, "What about your dad?"

He smiled warmly and went on, "He likes to fish and hunt, he'd always take me and my brothers out on the boat in the summer. I was never real good at fishin', and he knew that, but he also knew I liked spendin' time with him, so he took me out on the boat a couple times every year anyway."

"They sound like great people," I said with a soft smile, "I'd love to meet them someday."

"Well, since you're takin' me to Philadelphia after the war to see snow, it's only right if I repay the favor and take you to Louisiana to meet the locals," Gene said, his tone lighter than I'd ever heard it. Hell, this is as much as I'd ever heard him speak in one sitting.

I smiled a little wider at that, "I'd like that."

He looked up at me and saw my smile, and I saw a tinge of pink in his cheeks. He quickly averted my gaze and cleared his throat a little, looking down at my arms, "There's no sign of infection, they should heal up in a couple of days."

I broke out of my little trance and looked down at my arms, nodding, "Y-yeah, okay... Thanks."

He made of noise of acknowledgment and sat back in his seat, messing with the washcloth in his fingers. I sat up a little and my t-shirt pulled away from my back, causing a stinging sensation and I winced a little.

"You alright, Matilda?" Gene asked, a look of concern replacing the light one he held just a moment ago.

I nodded and poked at the spot on my back, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I guess I scraped my back a little too during that scuffle."

"Let me take a look," Gene said, leaning forward in his seat now.

I shook my head and held up a hand, "Gene, you've done enough. I'm fine, it's not that bad."

"I'm a medic, it's my-"

"Job, yeah I know," I said, giving him an annoyed, but slightly amused look, "You're not going to let me leave here until you've looked at it, are you?"

Gene shook his head a little, giving me that look. I sighed and grabbed at my t-shirt, "Fine."

I turned in the chair a little and lifted my shirt up to about the middle of my abdomen, right below where my wrapping was. Gene kept his attention focused on my injury, but I felt awkward showing this much skin in front of a guy. He probably felt just as awkward, but he didn't let it show. I could feel a light blush on my cheeks, and it darkened when I felt his fingers brush against my bare skin. Focus, Maddie, focus.

"So... What were you like as a kid?" I asked, trying to distract myself, "I heard all about your family, but I know nothing about you."

Gene shrugged, "I guess I was the same as I am now. Quiet, shy... I had a few friends, but that was all. I hung around my brothers and sisters more than the kids from my school. We played baseball a lot, that was our favorite sport... I quit school after fifth grade."

I was shocked by that, "Really?"

He nodded, "My dad was out of work, we didn't make a lot back then, we still don't. I wanted to help out, so I quit and started a paper route, gave all my earnings to my parents. I helped my neighbor clean up his house on the weekends, he paid me real nice. It wasn't a lot, but we got by. When I turned thirteen I started working oiling machinery, that's when the money was a little better, and then my dad went back to work. After he was better, Ma begged for me to go back to school, but by then I'd been out for a couple years and I'd be too far behind, so I just kept workin'."

He got up again and went over to get another bandage for my lower back, "Wow," I said.

He shrugged, "It is what it is."

"My dad had a good job, I never had to do anything like that," I said, looking down at my boots, "I finished high school, my parents were planning on putting me through college. I was gunna be a teacher or something."

"You like kids?" He asked as he returned with a bandage.

I nodded, "Yeah, I've always been good with 'em. I have a bunch of little cousins that I used to babysit all the time. Maybe when I get back home I'll get my degree and still become a teacher. That'd be nice."

Gene smiled a little as he opened the bandage and began putting it on me.

"What about you?" I asked, "What are you gunna do when you get back home?"

He just shrugged, "I'll probably just go back to doin' what I did before," He said before he leaned back in his chair, "There. I'm done."

I turned to look at him and then I lowered my shirt, smiling as I turned in my seat, "Thanks, Doc. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Gene smiled, "It's no problem. Just doin' my job."

I smiled at him then caught sight of the time from the clock on the wall, "It's nearly seven now, I should probably be heading back to the barracks. The guys are probably wondering where the hell I am, I sort of just stormed off earlier without a word."

Gene nodded, "Yeah, alright. I know how Guarnere is."

I snickered at that and nodded, standing, "He is quite motherly."

Gene chuckled and stood as well, and I said, "Thanks again, Gene."

He smiled at me and tossed the bloody washcloth into the sink, "You're welcome."

I stretched a little, my muscles a little tight from sitting down for so long, "Alright, I'll see you around."

"Okay," Gene said, waving me off.

I walked out the front door and was now outside on the street, the sun having nearly set now. I sighed and looked down at my arms, the blood all gone and the only things remaining were a couple of scabs and the bandages covering them. I turned to look over my shoulder at the tiny building we called an aid station and smiled.

Lord help me, I think I just fell head over heels for Eugene Roe.

A/N - I don't know anything about Eugene's family, I just know his sibling's names, so I just made some stuff up. Hope you enjoyed nonetheless and I'll see you next time. :)


	8. Easy Target

A/N - And I'm back! This chapter is a little darker in the beginning than it has been, but it's nothing too graphic. I just wanted to warn you. I'd also like to thank you for reading and thanks for the review toomanyfandomssolittletime, I'm glad you like it. :) Please R&R, and I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer - Read the first chapter's.

We knew we were to move out again, we just didn't know when and we didn't know where we were going exactly. France, we were sure, but they didn't tell us much. We tried to relax, spend as much time hanging out and doing as little as possible, that's how we all ended up at an English pub a few nights later. Bill had become real buddy-buddy with this replacement called Babe, he was from Philly too from what he's told me. I had yet to meet him, but I've seen him around. He was currently playing darts with Buck, George yapping in both their ears.

I was sitting at the bar, drinking a beer. The beer was hot, and I wasn't really a fan, but that's how the English made it and it was better than whiskey so I drank up. I had never been a hard drinker, but it was nice to relax every once and a while and have a drink.

Perconte hasn't said a word to me since what happened the other day in the street, and I steered clear from him. Bill was still mad at him, and Chuck stayed quiet about the whole thing minus the one time he asked if I was alright, but after that, nothing. Don hadn't said anything about it and George just told me to forget about the whole thing, telling me Perconte could be a bit of an ass sometimes.

Most of the guys had started to come around, Don and Hoobler had become closer friends of mine, they were both very sweet, and because Don was a friend of mine Skip and Penkala were too. I like those four, they're funny and keep me sane throughout this whole thing.

Liebgott was still pissy with me, but he always has been so I just ignored him. Webster was still being shy about it all. The only ones now who were still unsure were the two obvious ones, Shifty, Skinny, Tab, and Bull, the others were finally warming up. And of course, our CO's didn't know about all this, much to my surprise. I was surprised that nobody's told them yet.

"You alright, Maddie?" Ralph asked as he came over to stand beside me from where I sat at the bar.

I looked up from my drink and over at him, smiling a little and nodding, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Ralph looked at me for a moment, as if he were trying to read me, then he said, "What the hell are you doin' sittin' over here all by yourself?"

I shrugged and shook my head, "I've never been one to party."

"This ain't a party, it's a gatherin'," He told me, "Come on, come mingle with the rest of the guys."

I shook my head, "No, I'm good. I'll just stay over here. I'm getting kind of tired anyway."

"Tired? It's not even ten yet, how could you be tired?" Ralph asked and I was getting a bit annoyed now with his constant yapping.

"I just don't want to go mingle tonight, alright Ralph?" I snapped suddenly, taking him a bit off guard. I kind of felt bad.

"Sorry, yeesh..." Ralph said, looking down at the drink in his hand as he got quiet for a minute, then he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing..." I said quietly, then I sighed. I had to tell somebody, "I got a letter from my Ma... My brother, he's... He's MIA."

"Ah, jeez Maddie, I'm sorry," Ralph said, putting a hand on my back in a comforting way, "I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything, I just needed to get it off my chest," I said, looking down at my drink, there wasn't much left of it. I picked it up and downed the rest of it in three seconds before I slammed it down of the counter and grabbed my jacket, "I'm gunna go take a walk."

"You want some company?" Ralph asked, seeming concerned for me now.

I shook my head as I stood, though I offered him a small smile of appreciation, "No, I just need some time by myself. Thanks, though."

He smiled back at me, patting me on the back a couple times for comfort, "No problem. If ya need anythin', just let me know, okay?"

I nodded, "Will do. I'll see ya later."

"Alright, see ya," He waved me off as I went towards the door and disappeared from the bar.

As I stepped outside I put my jacket on and looked around the street. It was fairly vacant minus a few locals and soldiers walking around and talking. I adjusted my jacket over my shoulders before I started down the street, getting lost in my own head. I couldn't believe it, first my older brother is killed in Japan and now my younger brother goes missing in France. My parents still had hope that he'd be found, but a lot of MIA cases end badly and the soldiers are either found dead or never found at all. I lost two brothers in less than a year, two of my best friends were gone and I was an only child. I felt the tears sting my eyes, but I refused to let them escape. I wiped at them furiously, my eyebrows knitting together in anger as I clenched my fists and quickened my pace.

All I could think about at that moment was all the good times I had with my brothers when we were kids. My older brother, Mac, he was seven years older than me. He was the only kid in the family that had my father's thin blonde hair, but he had the bright blue eyes like me and my younger brother. He was a skinny kid, hyper as hell when we were kids. He taught our dog Lucy how to do all her tricks, he taught me and my other brother how to play soccer, baseball, football, everything. He wore little round glasses, he was born with horrible eye sight. I used to make fun of him for his glasses, and he'd always chase me around when I got too annoying, and he'd always catch me because he was bigger than me. He'd pin me down and give me wet willies, I always hated that, but he laughed his ass off every time.

My younger brother, now we were as close as a brother and sister could be. We never left each others sides. His name is Matthew, the fake name I took on when I first went to Camp Toccoa. I told him I was gunna use his name, he liked that a little too much. He had my mother's thick dark hair and he had the brightest blue eyes I've ever seen. He was the funniest guy I knew, he always knew how to light up a room, Luz reminded me a bit of him, though Luz is a bit more outgoing. Mattie was always real shy and awkward, he got picked on a lot in school for his size. He was skinny as hell, it kind of ran in the family. Mattie had an obsession with music, music my father hated and my mother loved. He liked jazz a lot, my father hates jazz. Now basketball, basketball was our sport. Mac was never good at basketball, so me and Mattie would play it all the time. When we were little, we played it all the time and I used to win pretty much every time, but as Mattie got older he got better. He got taller, to about six foot, and I had a hard time beating him. We were surprised at how tall he got, we weren't know to have a lot of tall people in our family, but Mattie broke that expectation, but he's still the sweetest guy I'll ever know.

I felt the tears stinging my eyes again, and it was becoming a bit overwhelming. I can't believe they're both gone. How must my parents be feeling, knowing I'm their only child left. We couldn't all die in this war, I wasn't going to let my parents suffer this way. I'd survive this thing, I'd be more careful. I had to be, I had to go back home to them.

I hadn't even realized it, but I found myself in a small alley, sitting down and leaning against a wall, my knees drawn up to my chest and the tears spilling freely down my cheeks. I don't know how I got here, but I just did. I made no move to get up, I just sat there and cried my feelings out.

I cried for a good five to ten minutes, maybe more, I lost track of time, but I tried to stop my tears from flowing when I heard footsteps approaching. I picked my head up from my arms and peered up towards the street, trying to make out the figure that was approaching me.

"Who is that?" I asked, my vision blurry with tears and my voice weak.

When the voice spoke up, I realized it was no one I knew and they didn't seem very friendly, "I thought I heard a rumor about there being a woman in Easy Company, but I never believed it was true."

His voice was nasally, but very menacing. I could hear the smile in his voice, I didn't like the way the smile looked either. I tensed my shoulders up and narrowed my eyes, sniffling, "What do you want?"

"You know, I haven't been with a woman since we left the States, maybe you could help me fix that," He said as he got closer.

I was getting nervous, but I held up my strong front and got to my feet quickly, ready to fight if it came to it, "Go fuck one of the local girls, I'm sure one of them would just love to sleep with a jackass like yourself."

"Ooh, feisty, I like that in my women," He said as he got closer, "None of the local girls have that."

"You better keep walking, pal, if you know what's best for you," I said, holding up my fists and glaring at him, my eyes still watery from crying.

He chuckled at that, "What are you gunna do, beat me? I have easily eight inches and sixty pounds on you, you couldn't take me if your life depended on it."

"Want to bet?" I asked bravely, even though I wasn't quite so confident in myself at the moment. I didn't have any weapons on me, I left my knife back in the barracks.

The man suddenly lunged at me, grabbing my arms and pushing me to the wall. He pinned my hands above my head and pushed his body flat against mine, I could finally see his face. He had pale blue eyes that looked crazed, I could smell the alcohol on his breath, he was absolutely wasted.

"Get off of me," I snapped in between my gritted teeth.

"I don't know," He said, "I kind of like where this is going."

Next thing I knew his mouth was on mine and I felt his hand on my chest. My eyes went wide with shock, I could taste the bitter taste of alcohol as he pushed his tongue into my mouth. I spit then, right into his mouth and he pulled away quickly. He spit on the ground next to our feet and his look changed, he was angry now, really angry.

"You'll regret doing that," He spat, then he smacked me hard across the face. I cried out in pain, but I wasn't giving up that easily. I glared hard at him and kicked him where it counted. I brought my knee up and caught him right in the groin. He hollered out in pain and crumpled to the ground, holding himself and that's when I took the opportunity and ran, but he grabbed my ankle and I went crashing to the ground right beside him. There was pain, but for some reason I couldn't pinpoint it as he dragged me back over to him. He flipped me onto my back and I felt his hands on my shoulders, pinning me down. I opened my eyes to look at him and saw him sitting on top of me, an evil glint in his eye. He said something, but I didn't hear him, I couldn't. I was in a daze. I must have hit my head when I went down. I felt him fumbling with my pants and then I saw him fumbling with his, that's when I broke out of it. I squirmed underneath him all the sudden and he grabbed my arms and held me down, "Hold still!"

I kicked and punched at him, it didn't get him off me, but it helped since he couldn't get control of me, "You're makin' this harder than it needs ta be!" He yelled at me and I felt him punch me right in the side of the head, which sent me seeing stars. I blinked a few times and suddenly felt nauseas. He started messing with his pants again, then I heard him yelp out. I couldn't see what was going on, I was still reeling from the hard punch in the eye.

I heard my attacker hollering, cursing out and I heard a few punches being thrown, then there were footsteps running past me and out onto the street.

"Don't let me see you again!" I heard a familiar voice yell, anger evident in their tone.

I winced and tried sitting up, putting a hand to my head. I winced again and pulled my hand away from the tender bruise around my eye. Then there were footsteps and the voice spoke again, "Tauscher... Are you alright?"

I blinked a few times as I felt hands on me, but they were gentle as they helped me up. I looked up and caught sight of their face, and this face surprised me, "Liebgott?"

He looked me up and down, then he put his hand on my chin, turning my head towards the light, but I flinched and smacked his hand away. He looked at me in concern again, a little anger evident in his gaze as well, "You busted up your chin real bad, and your eye..."

I swallowed thickly then I finally came back to the world, understanding and fully comprehending what had just happened, "I'm fine. I'm fine... I can- I'm fine."

I pushed him away from me and tried to stand, but when I got to my feet I stumbled and fell into Joe's chest. He wrapped his arms around me and tried to steady me. I closed my eyes for a minute, fighting the nausea and then I opened my eyes when I regained my composure. My whole body stiffened and I pushed Joe off of me irritably, "I'm fine, Joe. Really."

I looked towards the street where my attacker went running, then I said, "I'm gunna head back to barracks. I'm tired."

I started off towards the street and I heard Joe follow me. Leave me alone, Joe.

"Tauscher," He called after me as I started down the street, my entire body stiff as a board now, my eyes alert and my fists clenched, ready to fight anyone who came at me, "Maddie."

His hand was around my wrist and I spun around to face him, anger in my eyes, "I'm fine, Joe! Now leave me alone!"

He looked at me for a minute, then some annoyance came into his gaze as he released my arm, "A thank you would be nice."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, "Do you ever let up?"

He ignored me and followed after me down the street as I began walking again, "I'm just concerned, is all. That asshole just tried to rape you, for cryin' out loud."

I spun around to face him, an incredulous smile on my face, "Why do you care?!"

He looked at me like I was stupid for a moment before he said, "We may not get along, Tauscher, and I may be a jackass sometimes, but I'm not just goin' ta let somebody do that to ya. We're in the same company and this company looks out for one another, now I don't know what that means ta you, but it means a hell of a lot ta me!"

"I care more for the men in this company than you can even imagine, Liebgott! You know that!" I cried. How did this turn into an argument? Why did everything involving Joe turn into a argument? I huffed and turned on my heel again, walking towards the barracks.

"I'm walkin' with you," He said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and following after me.

I huffed once more and looked over at him, "You just don't listen do you? I want to be left alone!"

"I don't care," Joe said, quickening his pace to keep up with me.

"Why won't you just leave?" I asked him, my eyes burning again. No, we're not crying in front of Joe, no way in hell are we doing that.

"Because, what if he comes back?" Joe asked me.

"I can take him," I spat, narrowing my eyes and glaring at the ground.

"Yeah, cause that went so well just a minute ago," Joe scoffed, "I'm walkin' you ta the barracks."

"I can take care of myself, Joe," I said.

"What is it with you?" Joe asked, grabbing my wrist again and stopping me, "You go around, actin' like you can do everything by yourself, that no one can touch you. You act like you're invincible, but you're not! Why can't you just let somebody help you every once in a while?"

"Are you describing yourself, Joe?" I asked, a small smug smirk on my face.

"Shut up, Tauscher," He snapped and I began walking again. It took him a minute, but he started after me again. I didn't say anything to him and we were silent for a few moments. Tonight was just not my night. I felt his eyes on me, and for once they didn't feel angry, "I'm walkin' with you."

And I let him.  
0-0-0-0-0  
We were jumping into Holland. I had yet to tell anybody about what happened a few nights ago, and Joe hadn't told anybody. When asked about it I told them I had had a bit too much to drink and fell outside on the street, most of them seemed to buy it, but a few of them were skeptical, Bill and Chuck mostly. I had yet to tell anybody but Ralph about my brother going MIA. I had all that sitting on my shoulders and I was jumping into combat. I was kind of glad though, I'd find a way to vent my emotions and be a good soldier at the same time. I tried to forget that at the moment though, I wanted to spend some time with my boys before we got back in the airplane. The last time we jumped we were being shot at, we could have crashed that night. It was the most terrifying experience in all my life, hopefully this time it was a different story.

"Hey! Hey, Tauscher!" I heard my name being called as I adjusted my parachute harness around me. I turned my head and saw Bill waving for me to come over, "Come 'ere!"

I sighed and turned towards Bill, carrying my weapon in my bag with me. I went over to Bill, who was standing with Chuck, and stopped in front of my best friend, looking up at him in mild annoyance, "Can't you see I'm a bit busy here?"

"We're all a bit busy, Maddie," Bill said, giving me that look, "I want ya ta meet somebody. This here is Babe Heffron. Ya know? The guy I'm always tellin' ya you should meet?"

I smiled as I looked up at the taller fellow, holding out my hand for him to shake, "So you're the famous Babe Heffron this schmuck can never shut up about?"

"Are ya really a woman?" Babe asked quickly, but he shook my hand.

I looked over at Bill, a bit accusatory, but he held up his hands in defense, "He's a good guy, he won't tell nobody."

I looked back up at Babe and nodded, "Yeah, it's true."

Babe sort of smiled a little, "Wow, I can't believe it... Bill here never shuts up about ya."

I smiled, "Bill never shuts up in general."

Babe snickered a bit at that and I felt Bill hit me on the shoulder irritably, it made me flinch. I've been a bit jumpy since the other night. Bill didn't seem to notice.

"Well, holy shit," Chuck suddenly said, looking off towards a couple trucks rolling up towards us.

We all turned to face him curiously, then I saw what he saw. Sobel. Jesus, I thought we left his ass when we left England the first time.

"Who's that?" Babe asked as he looked over towards the jackass that made our lives living hell for two years.

"Sobel," I said, adjusting my harness around my waist, "Our first CO. You wouldn't believe what he made us do. He'd revoke your weekend pass just for breathing the wrong way."

"Ain't that the fuckin' truth," Bill snapped in annoyance as he too messed with his harness, making sure it was secured tightly around him.

"No shit," Babe said and we all nodded, then I saw Popeye approaching, a big smile on his face.

"Well, well, what do we got here," Bill said with a smile as Popeye came over, giving the guys handshakes.

"Hey guys," Popeye said, looking around at the three familiar faces, smiling at me, "Corporal."

I rolled my eyes, "You can call me by my name, Popeye. Pretty much everyone knows now."

"Really?" He said, looking around.

I shrugged, "Well, mostly. Not our CO's though, so don't talk about it around them."

Popeye nodded, then he saw Babe, "Who's this?"

"That's Babe. Replacement," I said, looking down at myself for a minute, satisfied with my work, "He's good though, he's from Philly."

"So... Sobel just gave you a lift?" Bill suddenly asked, confused about this.

Popeye looked over at him and nodded, "Yeah, I can't believe it myself."

None of us could, but we didn't ask anymore questions. We had a jump to prepare for.  
0-0-0-0-0  
Holland wasn't what we expected. We thought we would be met with enemy fire, but when we jumped it was quiet, there wasn't a sound to be heard, then when we made it to Eindhoven we were met with joy instead of resistance, and it was beautiful. I forgot about my worries for a little while in Eindhoven, the people adored us. Of course, all the locals thought I was a man so I was getting kisses from women, but I tried not to let it bother me.

"Well hallelujah! I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life!" Chuck cried over the cheering people as he watched me get a big kiss on the mouth from one of the women.

I rolled my eyes and wiped my mouth as she ran off, "Shut up, Chuck."

"Hey Chuck! Get over here!" Somebody called his name and he smiled down at me, "Duty calls."

I rolled my eyes again as he went off in the direction his name was called. I kept pushing forward, the crowd starting to annoy me. I've never been one for big crowds, I was always a bit claustrophobic. I pushed my way towards the street corner and climbed up on a light post a little, looking over the crowd, trying to see an opening somewhere, but it seemed the whole street was crowded. I'd just have to suck it up and deal with it. I sighed irritably and got down back into the street, pushing through the crowd once more, getting some hugs and kisses from the women, some older men gave me hugs and a few children gave me hugs as well.

I passed by Hoobler who had a small boy in his arms and he was just chatting away to him. I smiled at bit at that. I saw Tab making out with a woman at a table and I rolled my eyes. I pushed past the people crowding around us, trying to make my way through the crowd faster, then I ran right into one of our men. I stumbled a bit and looked up to see who it was and saw a very flustered Eugene Roe, struggling to get this woman off his arm.

I almost laughed.

"You alright there, Gene?" I asked, adjusting my helmet on my head.

He looked down at me, his face tinted pink, "Please help."

That's when I laughed. I grabbed his arm and started pulling him down the street with me, eventually the lady got the right idea and let go of Gene. As we walked through the crowd I noticed Gene was limping a little bit and I furrowed my brow, "You alright?"

He looked down at me, a look of confusion on his face for a moment, "Yes. Why?"

"You're limping," I pointed out, my voice laced with concern.

He then realized what I was talking about and he slumped his shoulders a bit, "It's nothin'. I landed on barbed wire when we jumped. I'm fine."

I looked down at his leg and saw there was a tear in his pant leg at the calf, his pants around the wound soaked in blood, "Did you fix it up?"

"I bandaged it, but I didn't have time to do nothin' else," Gene said. One thing I noticed about him was that he took care of others before he took care of himself, and sometimes that was a bad thing.

"We need to get out of this crowd so you can get that dressed properly," I said, tightening my hold on his arm as I helped drag him through the crowd.

He didn't say anything as I dragged him through the street, mostly because we stumbled upon something horrific. Me and Gene both watched with almost disgusted expressions as men dragged several women to a small clearing in the center of town; they ripped at their clothes, forced them to their knees and shaved their heads. I saw another man drawing swastikas on their foreheads.

"What the fuck..." I said quietly, watching as this continued on, but neither me nor Gene did anything to stop it. We were in shock, it seemed.

"They slept with the German's," I heard a voice say next to me, it was Cobb. He looked over at me and Gene, a cigarette hanging out his mouth as he shrugged his shoulders, "That's what I heard, anyway."

Then we all turned back to face the gathering, but still, none of us did anything.  
0-0-0-0-0  
I was shuffling my deck of cards that night, leaning back against a large stack of hay. It was actually quite comfortable, and it was quiet for once, so I was happy for the moment. After we finally made our way through the town, me and Gene found Ralph and he helped patch up Gene. Of course, Gene had to protest, saying he could do it himself, but me and Ralph both told him to shut up and let Ralph do his job. Gene stopped protesting after that, but he had a look on his face, a grumpy look. He looked like a small child who didn't get what he wanted at the store, and I had to hold in my laughter at the expression on his face.

I wasn't tired at the moment, so I just played with my cards. Gene had been my company, but he finally fell asleep about half an hour ago. He was sitting next to me, his wounded leg sprawled out in front of him, his arms crossed over his chest and his head tucked into his shoulder. He was a quiet sleeper, he didn't move too much.

"Hey Maddie," I heard that Philly accent, and I looked up just in time to Bill coming to sit next to me, "Lose your chattin' buddy?"

I smirked and looked over to Gene briefly, "Yeah, I guess he finally got tired of my constant yappin'."

Bill snickered at that as he got comfortable next to me, "You two sure have been spendin' a lotta time together."

I rolled my eyes, "First Ralph, now you?"

Bill snickered again, "I'm just messin' with ya," Bill then got quiet for a moment, releasing a loaded sigh then he asked, "How ya been holdin' up?"

I furrowed my brow curiously, but I responded with, "Good... How about you?"

He shrugged, "I'm always fine, I'm just worried 'bout you, that's all."

I sighed, "Ralph told you, didn't he?"

Bill was quiet again, but only for a moment, "I'm real sorry, Maddie. I know how close ya two were."

I looked down at my hands in my lap and shrugged, "It is how it is."

Bill watched me for a minute, trying to read me. He knew the scar I had on my chin and the black eye had a story, and it wasn't that I had too much to drink and fell. Bill knew I didn't drink much, he's known me for over ten years. I know he wants to ask me about it, but I'm just not sure I'm ready to talk about it, but on the other hand I wanted to tell somebody. The only person who knows is Liebgott, and surprisingly, he's kept it to himself. Joe's been giving me looks lately, and not the normal ones. They weren't filled with anger and annoyance anymore, no, these looks seemed concerned, as if he were watching out for me.

I looked up and around the area, then over at Gene, making sure he was still soundly asleep; he was. I then turned to Bill before I stood up, "Come with me."

Bill looked at me curiously as I started to walk away, and he got up quickly, following after me. I stepped away from the area where me and Gene were sitting and away from earshot from the rest of the men. I stopped a few yards from the men, Bill coming to stand in front of me as I stared down at my boots. He noticed the tense silence, a look of concern clouding his features.

"What is it, Maddie?" Bill asked urgently, his fists clenched at his sides.

I released a tense and nervous breath, my fists clenched as well, then I started to speak, "It's about the other night. When all... This happened," I said, motioning towards my face where a small scab still remained on my chin and a light grey tint was around my eye.

"I knew ya didn't fall," Bill said, a look of anger coming over his face, "Who did it? Who beat ya up? Was it Joe? Frank? I'll kick their asses, I swear-"

"Bill!" I snapped, a little too loudly. I released a tense breath, calming myself, "It's not Joe, and it's not Frank... They wouldn't-" I sighed again, cutting myself off. Hold it together, Maddie, you can do this, "I don't know who did it, he was from a different company... I went on a walk that night after I found out about Mattie. I ended up in this alley, crying. I just wanted to be alone for a while, then..."

Bill adjusted his shoulders in front of me, and I could just tell he was getting angry, "Then what?"

I released another tense breath, preparing myself, "Then this guy assaulted me. He-he..."

"I'll kick his ass," Bill said through gritted teeth, "I'll find out who did it and- Wait, how far did it go? He didn't... Ya know?"

I shook my head, "I put up a pretty good fight... But somebody else helped, somebody came to my... Rescue."

As much as I bitched at Gene earlier for needing to let somebody else help him sometimes, I really wasn't too good at admitting when I needed help either.

"Who?" Bill asked curiously, anger still evident in his tone.

"Liebgott," I said, and that seemed to surprise him.

"What?" Bill asked in shock.

"He tore the guy off me and got a few punches in, then he told him to get out of there before he did much worse," I said, wringing my hands, "Then he walked me back to the barracks, even though I told him not to. He said he didn't want that guy coming back after me."

"Joe did this? He helped ya out? Joe Liebgott?" Bill asked and I nodded, wanting to smile at the tone in his voice.

"Yes, Joe helped me," I said, nodding, "I found it hard to believe myself... Now, you can't tell anyone about this. It's between me, you, and Joe. Got it?"

"No, we have to find this fucker and turn him in! He needs to be punished for this shit!" Bill snapped angrily.

"No Bill, we can't tell anybody!" I said in return, "You'd have to tell a CO, and if they found out that I was a woman... I'd be out of here for sure! So we can't tell anybody, got it?!"

Bill was quiet for a moment, looking at me with concern and anger in his dark eyes, but he nodded, "Yeah... I got it."

"Alright," I said, nodding, my brow furrowed in worry, "Thank you."

"Yeah," Bill said in return, "But just let me know if someone else starts botherin' ya. I'll take care of it, a'right?"

I nodded, "Yeah, alright."

"A'right," Bill said, stepping over to me and giving me a brief hug, "I'll see ya in the mornin'."

Bill wasn't a touchy feely guy, he didn't hug me often, because I wasn't a touchy feely person myself, but that hug meant a lot, even though it was brief. It told me he was looking out for me, protecting me, and that he loved me. You could tell a lot from a hug. Bill pulled away and turned on his heel, walking away, not saying another word. I sighed as I watched him leave, slumping my shoulders, then I turned away a moment later, going back over to where I was sitting before.

Gene was still asleep, sitting in the exact same position I left him in. I sat back down next to him, but closer than I had before. I leaned against him a little bit, our arms touching, and when I touched him, he felt it and stirred him out of his sleep a little.

He blinked a few times and looked over at me, "Matilda?" He said, looking over at me sleepily, "Are you alright?"

I nodded and smiled a small, sweet smile at him, "Yeah, I'm fine... Just a little cold."

He looked at me curiously for a moment, but he didn't say anything else, he just mumbled something incoherent and relaxed back against the hay, but he didn't move away from me. He fell back into sleep a moment later, but I remained awake, looking up at the stars that covered the sky. It was pretty here in Holland, I liked it here so far.

I sighed and relaxed my head back against the soft haystack, crossing my arms over my chest protectively. I was surrounded by men, only men. I knew this when I signed up, I knew if someone found out about me it could be trouble, but at that time I told myself nobody would find out about me. That went well.

I was surrounded by men, and I was just now realizing that.


	9. Dammit

A/N - Hallo! Thank you for reading and reviewing, I love it when you guys review, it just makes my day. I hope you guys enjoy, this chapter is a little shorter and I'm not a huge fan of the way it turned out, but here it is. I hope you guys enjoy. :)

Disclaimer - Read the first chapter's.

I woke with a start. My heart was beating fast, my forehead was covered in sweat, my palms the same. My blue eyes were wide as they started across the field we were in, seeing the other men either sleeping or sitting up talking and eating. We were fine for the moment.

"Matilda?" I heard from beside me and it was now that I realized there was a hand on my shoulder. I quickly turned my head and saw Gene looking at me with concern in his eyes, "Are you alright?"

I slumped my shoulders then, realizing what had happened. I nodded and ran my hands over my face, wiping away the sweat, "Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine... I just had a bad dream, is all."

"What were you dreamin' about?" He asked, his voice low and quiet.

I looked at him for a minute. I couldn't tell him, no. I couldn't. What happened that night is between me, that jackass from the other company, and Liebgott. So I lied and told him something else, something else that was bothering me. He deserved to know this at least, I needed to open up a little more.

"My... Brother," I said, still a little hesitant, but I told him, it actually felt good to tell him, "He went missing in France a few days ago. I got a letter from my parents when we were still in England."

"Oh," He said, a little at a loss for words, "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's alright," I said, "You had no way of knowing."

It was quiet for a minute, then Gene asked, "What was his name?"

I looked over at him and smiled slightly, "Matthew... Matthew Charles Tauscher. Everybody called him Matt, except for me, I called him Mattie."

"Is that why you-"

"Why I called myself Matthew when I came here? Yeah," I said, nodding, "He was... He was great."

"What was he like?" Gene asked, and I smiled a little more.

"He was the nicest guy ever," I said, avoiding Gene's eyes and instead looking at my feet, "He was funny, smart, sweet. He was my best friend. We were as close as two siblings could be. We used to play basketball all the time, we played poker on the street with our friends, Bill used to play too. Mattie was kind of shy though, which is rare for a city kid. Everybody in Philly is all up in everyone's business, we don't care. But Mattie... He only had a handful of friends... He had a girl back home, Monica. They were perfect for each other. Opposites attract is what they always say."

Gene smiled a little, "He sounds great."

I wiped at my eyes now, not wanting to cry in front of Gene. I rested my hands in my lap and looked down at them, picking at my fingers as I sniffled, trying to keep from crying. Then, to my surprise, Gene grabbed my hand. He squeezed my fingers gently, trying to comfort me. I smiled and sniffled again, curling my fingers around his and squeezing back. I looked up at him and said, "Thanks."

He smiled back, "Just doin' my job."  
0-0-0-0-0  
We'd been riding on the tanks for a couple of miles, all of us fairly relaxed. We had yet to meet any kind of resistance in Holland, but we all knew all this joy and open arms was too good to be true, their had to be resistance somewhere, and we were about to find it. Operation Market Garden was a risky operation, and it was being overlooked by the British, which we didn't like too much, but that's how it was.

None of us really said too much, we all remained quiet as we rode on the tanks down the gravel road. We didn't see many people outside of Eindhoven, and the people we did see looked scared and hopeless. As this war went on the more angry I became. All these poor people, their lives ruined by this war. Before all this happened they were living normal, happy lives. People had families, friends, lives. Now, all that has been taken away from them. People were alone, they were scared, they were without hope. My mother and father are safe back at home, but they're still suffering. My brothers are gone, and I'm all they have left. I'm making it my duty to come home to them in one peace.

We passed by a sign, alerting us on where we were and Webster suddenly called out, "Vincent Van Gogh was born in Nuenen!"

"Yeah? So what?" Cobb replied, making me roll my eyes.

"They sure teach you a lot of useful things at Harvard!" Hoobler cried over the rumbling of the tank engine and wheels.

We all had smiles on our faces, but they immediately turned into frowns when we saw a woman on the side of the street, her clothes old, torn, and ragged, her hair shaven and patchy in areas, and in her arms, in an old ragged blanket, was a baby. We all gave her sympathetic looks as we passed, and one of the men even gave her some food. We knew what she had done, we knew why her head was shaven and we knew who that baby was a product of. But she was still a person, and she didn't deserve to be treated like that. I felt bad for her.

As we rolled past her, the men walking ran into the trenches on the sides of the road, a small town now visible up ahead. This was it.

"Hey, get a load of General Patton!" Hoobler cried, pointing to the Lieutenant up ahead, walking right out to the middle of the road and pulling out his binoculars.

"What the hell is he doing?" I asked, looking ahead at him with a look of curiosity and concern on my face. Was he stupid or something? He was going to get shot out there in the open.

Bull suddenly crawled down the tank a little and called out to the man up ahead of us, "Lieutenant!"

Then, just like that, he was on the ground, blood pooling around his neck. Somebody yelled sniper and then we were all off the tanks and into the trenches for cover. Bull was up after the wounded Lieutenant and we were all taking cover in the trenches, all of us pulling up our weapons and readying them to fire. We watched as our tanks fired at a German one, they missed the first time, but the second time was a direct hit and the thing went up in flames. We all began shooting at the German's who got out of it, one of them on fire and trying to pat it out.

I heard Bull yelling for a medic and one ran past us, but it wasn't Gene. Thank God, I don't want him out there in the open.

"Keep moving! Get up! Keep moving!" Bull ordered us and we all got up and followed his orders after he came over and pulled the replacement ahead of us to his feet.

We ran towards the town, I followed Bull as we ran around to the side of a building, taking cover behind it. Hoobler was by his side, Bull telling him something. Hoobler then waited for Bull's order and about four of us ran around the side of the building and onto the porch. Hoobler was ahead of us and he ran to the far end of the porch, leaning over the railing and peering around the corner, aiming his weapon at any enemy that might be there.

"Go," Hoobler said to us quietly and we got down off the porch and ran around to this low baring wall and took cover behind it. I stopped behind Web and felt Hoobler kneel down behind me, then I felt him tap my shoulder and then we took off over to this wheel barrel filled with hay and took cover behind it. I was practically squished between Webster and Hoobler, my weapon pressed to my chest.

I heard a man shouting in a different language now, and I furrowed my brow, looking around. Where were they? "What did he say?" Van Klinken asked Webster.

"He's saying away, away," Webster translated. There must be a civilian around this wheel barrel, "That either means the German's have gone, or he wants us to go. I don't know."

We stayed where we were for a moment, Hoobler was looking around, trying to get a good view of the area, then he patted my shoulder, "There's a wall at the house across from here."

I nodded and patted Webster on the shoulder, "Wall, straight ahead. Go."

Webster nodded and stood, turning around the wheel barrel and towards the low bearing wall where we all took cover again. We stayed put for a moment, Hoobler peered over the wall to see if he could see anything, then he ducked back down quickly. He looked between all of us and explained, "There's a few Krauts over towards the left. Tauscher."

He knew I was a good shot and I nodded before me and him both peered over the wall at the German's frantically going over something. Me and Hoobler aimed our weapons quickly and then fired at the four or so German's. We got all of them, but there were a few shots fired at us, but they all missed their targets.

"Alright, on me," Hoobler said, jumping over the wall and running towards another building, standing behind the wall. I could hear extremely loud explosions from the distance, they sounded like they were coming from tanks, but I didn't know whose tanks. Hoobler quickly directed us down between some houses and we stopped at the street, Hoobler peering out to see if there were any German's around, then he directed us up onto a porch, and that's when we saw a couple of our tanks destroyed.

"Shit..." Hoobler said, looking out at them. We all had the same reaction. He turned towards us and then looked across the street, then he pointed back where we came, "Let's go back around there, if we go this way we'll get ambushed."

We all nodded in understanding as we turned around and headed back around to where we came from. I made sure everybody was over the porch railing before I got down, and as I was climbing over the railing a tank shell hit the porch on the other end and I went flying.

I hit something hard, possibly a wall? All I know was that I was on the ground and I felt in pain. I coughed and tried opening my eyes, but their was something in them causing them to burn.

"Tauscher!" I heard Hoobler and Webster calling, then I felt hands on me, trying to help me sit up.

"Am I hit?! Am I hit?!" I cried out. There was pain, but I couldn't tell if I had been hit or if it was just from being launched into a wall.

It was quiet for a minute as they looked me over, but then Hoobler said, "No, no, you're just shook up. You're alright."

I then brought my hands up to wipe whatever it was out of my eyes and when I pulled my hands away I realized it was just dirt. I spit some of it out of my mouth and then looked around frantically for my weapon, "Where the hell's my rifle?!"

"I don't know! Just use your pistol!" Hoobler said, his hands under my arms, pulling me to my feet, "Come on, we got to move!"

I got to my feet and ran after the four still with me, pulling my pistol out of it's holster. I followed the guys back around the house I was just launched into and we ran a few yards before we found a hedgerow of bushes. I was still spitting dirt from my mouth and coughing, the impact effecting my breathing a little.

"You alright, Maddie?" Hoobler asked me in concern.

I nodded and cocked my pistol, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just shook up, is all."

He nodded in understanding and then peered through the bushes, "There's a ditch on the other side. Follow me through."

Hoobler then quickly crawled through the other side of hedgerow and into the ditch, we waited a minute and then Van Klinken made the mistake of standing to go through the bushes and was hit with machine gun fire. He fell into the ditch beside Hoobler and me, Webster, and Cobb quickly crawled through to the other side. Hoobler had flipped Van Klinken onto his back to check him, he was still breathing, but he was unconscious.

"Come on, Hoobler! We gotta go!" Cobb said as the German's fire down at us, hitting the hill just above this ditch.

"But-"

"Come on, Hoob! Move!" Cobb yelled as the bullets were shot at us closer.

We crawled through the ditch, trying to make our way up to this building up ahead. I crawled behind Cobb, Webster was behind me. The bullets continued to spray the hill above the ditch, making me duck my head every once in a while, but I was never hit. We made our way to the house and very quickly each and every one of us jumped up and went over the wall, kneeling down on the other side of it.

Hoobler sat back against the wall, a look of guilt covering his face, "We had to leave him, Hoob," I told him, "It's okay-"

"He was still alive!" He cried, grasping his weapon in his hands tightly.

"Who was hit?" I heard beside me and I turned and saw Gene kneeling next to me.

"Van Klinken," Hoobler panted out, "He was shot over that hedge."

"Alright," Gene said, then, to everyone's surprise, he got up and ran around the wall, towards the hedge we just came from.

"Jesus Christ!" I yelled and Hoobler cursed as me and him both got up and followed Gene.

Was he insane, just getting up and running into enemy fire? He wasn't armed, but all that seemed far from his mind right now as we made our way to the ditch. Me and Hoobler fired at any German in sight, trying to keep our medic safe. Gene was not making this fight easy at the moment. He hopped down into the ditch and made his way over to Van Klinken, me and Hoobler providing covering fire. Gene looked down at Van Klinken's wounds and saw a brief look of grief on his face. He wasn't going to make it. He was shot all over his chest. I broke my gaze away from the scene and turned towards the firefight before me. It took a few moments, but Gene got Van Klinken as bandaged up as he could and then he turned to us, "Hoobler, help me out here!"

Hoobler lowered his weapon and ran around me quickly as I continued firing away at the German's. I could hear somebody yelling 'fall back' in the distance. Great. Hoobler and Gene started dragging Van Klinken forward out of the ditch, I stayed ahead of them, making sure they were safe from enemy fire. We made our way back to the house up ahead and when we returned I saw Webster and Cobb giving us very surprised looks.

I just gave them a look. I'm surprised we all made it out alive, too.

"Web! Take him!" Hoobler cried as he ducked back down behind the wall.

Webster got up and grabbed Van Klinken, helping Doc along as I too took cover behind the wall with Hoobler. I peered over the wall a little bit, trying to see what was going on. The German's were closing in on us.

"What are we gunna do Lieutenant?!" Hoobler asked the taller man, who seemed to be stumped. Now was not the time to be stumped.

"I'm not sure," The Lieutenant said.

"Sir, we gotta get out of here!" I yelled to him, peering around the corner.

Then we heard it, the whistle, "Mortar!" Hoobler cried and we all jumped up and ran as the explosion went off behind us, missing us by just a few yards. We ran a few steps, then I realized we were missing somebody. I turned to look and saw Cobb still sitting by the wall, his knees drawn up to his chest, his weapon clutched in his shaking hands as he gazed into nothing, his eyes looking lost.

"Cobb!" I yelled after him, running back towards him.

"Tauscher, let's go!" I heard Hoobler call after me, but I ignored him. I don't think he realized Cobb was still over here.

"Come on, Cobb, you're alright," I said, grabbing him under the arm and helping him to his feet, "Come on, let's get out here."

He sensed the urgency in my voice and I guess that's what pulled him out of his stupor. He followed after me now and we quickly caught back up to Hoobler and our Lieutenant. We started towards the front of town, mortars flying down all around us, blowing up buildings and killing our men. We had to move faster. We ran down the street, in between building, jumped over fences, crawled through trenches, did everything we could to make it out of this alive.

We eventually made it towards the front of town, our tanks on retreat. We jumped down into a ditch on the side of the road, finding better cover in there. We could see up ahead our men being loaded into the back of some trucks. I didn't like the sight of them jumping up into them things, urgency in their step, fear in their eyes. Retreating was horrible.

"Come on, we're almost there!" Hoobler cried from ahead of us. We crawled up out of the ditch and onto the road, behind our tanks and towards our trucks.

We saw Winters up ahead, yelling for us to keep moving and to hurry up. We ran past him and then we were at our trucks. Hoobler got up on it first, then he leaned down and helped me up. I ended up sat between him and Smokey as the rest of the men piled on. I saw Webster sit at the end of the truck, wiping blood off his hand onto his pants, a distant look in his eye.

As the trucks started up and started down the road, that's when it really sunk in. When I was sitting there watching the mortars continue to go off in that town, I felt a sense of defeat wash over me. I was starting to get angry, everything was just piling up on me now. My brother going MIA, what happened in the alley that night, and now this. It was all becoming too much and I didn't know what to do with it all.

I saw Smokey next to me, trying not to cry, and I put a hand on his shoulder, trying my best to comfort him. I turned to look back at the town and felt tears stinging my eyes as well.

This was all too much.  
0-0-0-0-0  
It was dark now and we still hadn't heard anything about Bull. I didn't have high hopes, as I've said before, MIA cases usually go horribly wrong. I was sitting down, leaning back up against a hill, munching on some bread that Hoobler had given me. I didn't feel hungry, but I knew I was. I hadn't eaten anything since this morning, so I forced myself to eat. Me being weak would help nobody.

We lost four men today. It didn't sound like a lot, but it was to us. We had a lot of men wounded, too. Van Klinken ended up passing away about an hour ago, but we all knew he wasn't going to make it, we knew it earlier when we saw his wounds.

"Hey," I heard, and I recognized it as Chuck's voice.

I looked up at him, not even attempting to smile. It had been a rough day, "Hey."

I looked away quickly and went back to eating my bread, and I heard him sigh and then he sat down next to me, "You alright?" He asked as he got comfortable next to me, his voice lower than usual.

I nodded slightly, "I'll make it."

He nodded in return and looked down at his boots. I cast a slight glance towards him, trying to see his face. I wonder how he was holding up? I may have some other problems building up behind this, but everybody had a rough day today. Defeat wasn't easy. I saw his face and he looked frustrated, a pained expression on his face. Chuck usually didn't try to show what he was feeling, he liked to be the positive one, he tried to keep the men's spirits up. I began to look away, but I caught sight of some red splotches on his jacket sleeve and a few holes on it.

My eyes widened and dropped my bread to the ground and grabbed his arm gently, "What happened?"

He looked over at me now, looking down at my hands on his arm. He shrugged, "I got hit with some shrapnel after trying to take out an 88. I'll be fine."

I examined his arm and my eyes caught sight of some blood on his pants, too, "How much did you get hit with?"

"I'm fine, Maddie," Chuck reassured me, grabbing my hands with his and pushing them away from his wounds, "Doc said it wasn't even enough to come off the line."

I nodded, though I was still worried. I hated seeing my friends in pain. I didn't like the fact that he got hit and I didn't even know about it. I could've been there. I could've helped him. I sighed and looked back down at my feet, seeing the bread that I had dropped in between them. I picked it up and started picking at it, I could feel Chuck's eyes on me, curious.

"I heard what happened to your brother," Chuck said quietly.

I sighed in irritation, "Who told you?"

"Spina," Chuck said.

I shook my head, "That man just can't keep his mouth shut."

He snickered quietly, "You can talk to me. You know that, right?"

I nodded, "Yeah... I know."

"I'm sorry about your brother," Chuck said, sadness in his voice.

I hated pity.

"It's fine. I'm fine," I said sharply, not wanting to talk about this anymore.

"I heard you two were close," Chuck went on.

I clenched my fists now, "I said I'm fine, Chuck. Can we not talk about this anymore?"

"Maddie, I'm just trying to-"

"I know!" I snapped harshly, but quietly, not wanting anyone to overhear this as I glared over at him sharply, "Everybody's trying! Everybody's trying to tell me it's okay and everything will work out in the end! But from where I'm sitting, things aren't looking so hot! I've had a very shitty week, Grant, and I'm getting tired of everyone's pity. I get it from you, I get it from Bill, I get it from Ralph, I get it from everybody! I'm tired of being treated like I can't handle myself, I don't need protecting, okay?! Just leave me alone!"

Chuck was taken off guard. I don't yell at him, ever. Except for that one time when he was being an idiot and trying to get himself killed, but other than that, I don't yell at him. I don't yell at anybody. But right now, I was just so upset and angry. I've never felt anger like this before. I dropped my food and grabbed my weapon, standing and stalking away.

"W-where are you going?" Chuck called after me, standing up, but he didn't go after me.

"I'm going to find Bull," I said, a determined look in my eye.

"What?" I heard Bill say, jumping up from his spot on the ground.

"I'm going with you," Hoobler said, standing and grabbing his weapon.

"You're goin' where?" Bill asked, stepping over to me.

"I'm going to find Bull," I said, no falter in my voice.

"That's suicide, Maddie, are ya tryin' ta get yourself killed?" Bill asked, then he went on, "I'll go, you stay here."

He started to step away, but I grabbed his arm and pulled him back. I looked him in the eye sharply, my jaw clenched as my blue eyes held anger, "I'm going."

He looked at me, his dark eyes searching mine. He knew I was serious, he knew when I was serious. He usually didn't hold me back, but he was concerned about me with the week I've had, he knew how much was on my shoulders right now, but he knew I was going to do this, whether he liked it or not. He nodded, "Okay."  
0-0-0-0-0  
It ended up being me, Hoobler, Hashey, Garcia, Cobb, and Webster that went back up to that town, looking for Bull. We weren't going to leave him behind. He might be dead, but we were going to find a body. We weren't leaving him. We walked all night looking for him, the town was full of German's though. We'd never make it in and out alive, but we didn't care. We kept going towards there, determined to find Bull. We could heard the bombs in the distance and yellow light that lit up the sky. They were bombing Eindhoven. The town where we were welcomed with open arms, we were their saviors. We let them down.

We were tired by morning, we barely spoke during the night, afraid a German might hear us and jump out from the bushes to attack us, so we kept quiet and focused on finding Bull.

I was early the next morning we were making our way down a hill when we heard an engine in the distance. We all fell onto our bellies, readying our weapons for a firefight, but that never came. It was one of our jeeps, and when they spotted Hoobler with his weapon in the air, they stopped and it was none other than Bull Randleman in the passenger seat.

We all followed Hoobler to the jeep, smiles on everyone's faces, including my own. I can't believe it, he's actually alive, "Where the fuck you been?" Hoobler asked as he stopped in front of Bull.

"I'm glad to see you boys," Bull said, then he looked over at me and said, "You too, Tauscher."

I smiled at him and slumped my shoulders, relieved he was alright, "Glad to see you're alright, Bull."

"I bet you thought we had given up on you, eh Bull?" Cobb said, leaning against the front of the jeep.

"Shut up, Cobb," I said and he looked over at me with a confused look on his face.

"I think we should go back now," Webster said.

Bull smiled at us and nodded, motioning to the back of the jeep, "Hop on."

We all smiled and hopped up on the back, making as much room as we could for each other. I squeezed in between Hoobler and Garcia, a little bit of joy flooding my heart. I needed some of that right about now. The jeep went right on with it's path a moment later, and we got back to where we came from a lot quicker on this damn thing than on our feet. I smiled at the sight of the rest of our men and I smiled even wider when I saw the beams on their faces when they saw us all back here safe and sound.

Bull got off first and went to shake Johnny's hand and me and the rest of the guys got off the back of the jeep. I watched as Bill came over, a smile on his face as he shook Bull's hand, "I don't know whetha to slap ya, kiss ya, or salute ya. I told these scallywags you was okay."

"They didn't listen?" Bull asked with a smile as him and Bull looked over at us.

"Ah, these salty bastards, they wanted ta go on a suicide run and drag your ass back," Bill said and Bull scoffed, looking over at us almost proudly.

"Is that right?" Bull asked.

"Yeah, I told 'em don't botha," Bill said, still smiling as we all sort of chuckled at him.

"Never did like this company none," Bull said, then he walked away.

As he left a few of the men came over to us and started shaking our hands, welcoming us back.

"Maddie, you're alright," Chuck said, smiling slightly as he came over to me, grabbing my hand as if he were going to shake it, but he just held it.

"Did you ever doubt me?" I joked, my smile a little brighter now.

Chuck snickered and shook his head, looking down at his feet. I looked up at him for a minute, seeing a look I'd never seen on his face before. I sighed a little and frowned, "I'm sorry."

"What?" He asked, looking up at me again.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you last night," I said, shaking my head, "I shouldn't have done that, I was just frustrated and I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you, you didn't deserve that. It's not your fault."

Chuck smiled a little and nodded, "I know. It's fine. I'm just glad you're okay."

I smiled up at him again then we heard, "Alright, we're moving out! Grab your gear, let's go!"

Chuck finally released my hand and gave me one last smile before he turned and went to find his stuff. I adjusted my helmet on my head and slung my new rifle over my shoulder. This was Van Klinken's weapon, I had to take it. I couldn't go on with just a pistol. I headed up the hill towards the tanks, patting my breast pocket and making sure I still had my deck of cards, making sure I didn't lose them in the battle yesterday. I didn't, they were still there.

I saw some of the men getting loaded into the back of one of the trucks and I headed over there, adjusting the strap over my shoulder. I hiked up the hill quickly and made my way around to the back of the truck. I grabbed the railing on the side and started to climb up, but I heard, "Tauscher."

I looked up and saw Gene holding out his hand for me. I smiled in appreciation and took it, letting him help me up onto the truck. I sat down next to him and looked over at him, a small smile on my face. He smiled back at me, sort of shyly, then he turned his head to look out at the scenery of Holland. The smile remained on my face as I caught sight of Ralph across from me. He gave me a knowing smile and blew me a kiss teasingly, making me roll my eyes, but I felt the blush rise to my cheeks. I turned my head down so no one saw it though. I hated Ralph sometimes.

I looked up again when I saw Bull being helped onto the truck. I looked over at Gene again and knew he needed to sit here so he could work on Bull's wounded shoulder, so me and him swapped seats. I now sat between him and Hoobler, and I looked up from Bull as he took off his jacket and revealed his bloody wound, I didn't want to look at it. I instead watched the black smoke fly up into the sky from the town of Eindhoven. I didn't want to look at that either, it was too depressing. It reminded me of our defeat yesterday, and it reminded me that we weren't riding away in victory, but retreating.

I looked down at my hands in my lap, they were covered in dirt and a little bit of blood where I helped with Van Klinken yesterday and from where I grabbed Chuck's arm. I tried wiping it on my pants, but it was dry. I sighed and looked up at the scenery around us. Holland was a beautiful place, maybe I'd come back and visit when there's no war going on.

My eyes were heavy with sleep, I've been up all night and I haven't been sleeping well lately anyway. I could fall asleep right now if I wanted to under the warm morning sun. I sighed and rubbed at my eyes, then I felt a nudge on my shoulder, prompting me to look up.

"You alright?" Hoobler asked me, a look of concern on his face.

I smiled and nodded, "Yeah... Just tired."

Hoobler scoffed, "Aren't we all."

I looked away and back to the town of Eindhoven up in flames. The war wouldn't be over by Christmas like we had all hoped, but the German's better not think they've won this thing. This was just a little slump in the road, we just had to find another way into Germany. And we will find another way into Germany, mark my words.


	10. All The Small Things

A/N - I'm back with a new chapter! Yay! Sorry for another long break, I don't know what's been up with me lately. This chapter lacks in action, but we need a break from all that sometimes. I hope you guys like it, and please R/R. :)

Disclaimer - Read the first chapters.

It was October now, we were somewhere near the Netherlands. We were occupied in a small town, I knew we wouldn't be here long, but we were safe at the moment, so we cherished it. We had had one bad thing happen here so far, Alley was hit a couple nights ago, so was Liebgott, but they'd both be okay so I wasn't dwelling on it. Alley was being sent back to England I'm sure, but Joe would stay. He was in hit in the neck with shrapnel, he wasn't making a big fuss out of it.

We all pushed the failed mission of Operation Market Garden out of our minds, we all just wanted to forget about it. We were down about it for a day, but we woke up the next morning and no one mentioned it. It was a bad memory, that was all. In a way, it was a blessing. I felt bad for thinking this and feeling this way, but I liked how angry the failed mission made me. It let me vent my anger about everything that's been going on in my life, and no one questioned me. They all thought I was angry that we failed, we were all angry, but they didn't know the truth. I had been so mad and I had nowhere to put my rage, but then Operation Market Garden happened and I could vent. I think it was out of my system now, at least a good amount of it.

"Ya hear 'bout Alley?" Bill asked me as I walked alongside him. We had been on patrol for an hour and were now trudging our way back to our men on the other side of the town.

I nodded, "Yeah... I was there when they brought him in. Doc said he'll be okay."

"That's good," Bill said, looking around. He seemed annoyed, but I wasn't going to press him.

We walked in silence for a minute, neither of us knowing what to say. Bill had been a little mad at me since I told him what had happened in the alley that night. He was mad because I wouldn't report the guy, but he knew I couldn't because then I'd be found out and sent home. Even if I wanted to report him I couldn't, I don't know his name. I know his face. I'll never forget his face.

"This is takin' too long," Bill said in annoyance, getting antsy now.

I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow, "What's taking too long?"

"This," Bill said, motioning out to in front of him, "I feel like we've been walkin' for an hour."

"I think we have," I said, shrugging, "Nothing we can do about it. We'll make it, don't worry."

Bill looked around for a moment, then he smiled. I never liked that smile on him, the smile he had when he was up to something, "Yeah, we'll make it a'right," He nodded then he snapped, "On that."

He pointed off towards a house on our left and I looked to where he was pointing. There was a motorcycle leaning against a fence, it was silver and quite shiny, it was a pretty thing, but I didn't like what Bill was telling me.

"What?" I said, looking up at him as I watched him throw his weapon over his shoulder and start walking towards the bike; I followed after him quickly, "Are you nuts?"

"Probably," Bill said, smiling as we walked up the path to some innocent Dutch person's home, "This will definitely get us back ta the men faster."

I shook my head and rolled my eyes, giving him 'that' look, "Bill, we can't steal this guy's motorcycle. We could get in trouble."

Bill looked down at me as he rubbed his hands together. He gave me a weird look, "Since when do you care if we get in trouble or not. If I recall, you were quite the troublemaker yourself back home."

"Throwing rocks into Mrs. Sherbesky's window is different than stealing a motorcycle," I said, "One's stupid kid stuff, the other's... Theft."

"We're in the middle of a war and you're worried about gettin' in trouble for stealin' a crappy motorcycle?" Bill asked me, his brow furrowed now as he scoffed and shook his head, "What happened ta ya, Maddie? Ya used ta be fun."

I took offense to that, "I am fun! Stealing is just not my idea of fun."

"It's callin' ta ya, Maddie," Bill said, grabbing the handlebars of the bike, "It wants ya to get on. It wants ya ta take a ride. It wants ya ta go back ta the men in under an hour."

I rolled my eyes and looked at the bike. I've never been on a motorcycle before. My uncle had one, but he never let me go for a ride with him, he always told me I was too little. I sighed and slumped my shoulders, throwing my rifle over my shoulder and saying, "Fine, I'll ride with you."

Bill smiled and clapped his hands together in excitement, "Yes!"

I smiled at him, but there was annoyance in my eyes, "But I'm only breaking the law with you this once."

Bill scoffed as he got on the bike, grabbing the handlebars and looking down at it as if it were precious to him, "If you're sayin' this is the only time you've ever broken the law, you're lyin' ta yourself."

I rolled my eyes once more as Bill patted the seat behind him, "Hop on, I'm drivin'."

"I figured as much," I said, climbing on behind him. I peered around him as he pulled his knife out of it's holster and began wiggling it around in the key slot, "Have you ever driven a motorcycle before?"

"Nope," Bill said, stabbing at the key slot, trying to force the knife in, which he eventually did and he turned it, starting the bike; he smiled, "But there's a first time for everythin'."

He leaned forward a little and revved the bike quickly, showing off a little, and then, without a warning to me, the bike moved forward quickly, causing me to lurch forward and wrap my arms around his middle so I wouldn't go flying off. He quickly drove off the path onto the thin gravel road, he had a huge grin on his face. Of course this would make his day. I wasn't really liking the bike too much, I didn't have control, I was clinging to Bill, a man who had never driven one before, in hopes that he wouldn't crash the damn thing and kill us both.

"Isn't this great?!" He called over his shoulder to me, his grin bigger than before.

"Yep!" I lied, forcing a smile as I held onto him for dear life, "This is... Fantastic!"

I heard Bill laugh and I wanted to smack him. Why did I agree to this? Things only proceeded to get worse. Bill decided it'd be great fun if we went off the road through a field. It's fun and a shortcut in one, what could go wrong? All I thought was that maybe he'd hit a dip in the field and we'd be launched off the bike, or we'd hit a rock, or something like that. This is coming from the same girl who was launched into a wall last week.

But I was right about things going horribly wrong. They did, and they went wrong fast. I heard a bang, it was quiet, but it was there, then I heard Bill grunt in pain, then Bill and me were rolling through the field, the bike was thrown away from us and somebody yelled 'sniper!'

I felt pain in my left shoulder, but it was an aching pain like I landed on it wrong, and I knew I had because the one who had been hit was Bill. My eyes widened when I saw him lying on the ground, cradling his leg, blood seeping through his fingers and a pained expression on his face. I was brought fully back to reality when I heard gunshots going off a few yards from where we lay and I looked up and saw some of the men running around frantically, searching for the source of the gunshot. They found it quickly when the sniper fired again and a bullet hit the ground not far from where Bill was laying. I crawled over to him quickly, covering his body with mine as I held my helmet to my head; Bill had lost his when we crashed.

The sniper was taken out quickly and I looked up and saw several men running over to us, one of them wearing a medic's patch on their arm.

"Maddie, are you alright?" It was Ralph, he seemed frantic.

"I'm fine, it's Bill," I said, uncovering Bill and sitting up, "It's in the leg."

Ralph nodded and dropped to his knees quickly, looking down at Bill's leg and that's when Bill finally spoke up, "Jesus Christ, never imagined gettin' hit would hurt this fuckin' bad!"

Ralph placed one hand on Bill's leg and the other on his side, then he looked up at me, "Help me roll him, I got ta see if there's an exit wound."

I nodded and quickly followed his orders and we rolled him onto his side, Bill cursing the entire time, "Be easy, would ya?!"

"Sorry Bill," Ralph said, then he nodded curtly, "Alright, this'll be easy then."

"Did it go out the back of my leg?" Bill asked, his brow furrowed irritably as he tried looking up at Ralph.

"Nope," Ralph said, trying to hide a smile it seemed, "It went out through your ass."

Bill grumbled, "What is it with this company and gettin' shot in the ass?"

I would've laughed, but this was Bill. It was different with Bill, Bill was my best friend. Nothing could happen to him. I'd be a wreck if something ever happened to him.

"Just hold him like this for me," Ralph told me, reaching into his bag now and grabbing some bandages out. I kept my hands on Bill's side, holding him steady for Ralph.

"I told you stealing that bike was a bad idea," I said, trying to lighten the mood, mostly for myself.

Bill flashed me a smile through his pain, "It was fun though, wasn't it?"

"Until you got shot in the ass," I said, glaring at him playfully.

"I didn't get shot in the ass, I got shot in the leg," Bill defended.

Again, I would've laughed.

"Well Bill," Ralph started, wrapping the bandage around Bill's leg, "The bullet wound will heal quickly."

"Well that's good," Bill said, smiling a little as he looked down at Ralph bandaging his bloody leg.

"But," Ralph continued.

"Uh oh, that's never good," Bill said, casting me a nervous glance.

"I think you broke your leg," Ralph said, tightening the bandage around his wound.

"You 'think' I broke my leg?" Bill asked.

Ralph nodded, "You'll need to see a real doctor to be sure, but it feels like it."

"How do you know what it feels like? All I feel is the bullet, I don't feel nothin' else," Bill said.

"The pain from being shot is just distractin' you from the pain of breakin' your leg," Ralph said, tying off the bandage and patting Bill on the other leg that was also covered in his blood, "You'll be fine."

"I guess I'm leavin' this hellhole then," Bill said, then he looked up at me, "I'll see ya soon, okay?"

I nodded, grabbing his hand and squeezing it gently, "I'll be here."

Bill smiled at me and winked, "I know ya will."

Ralph then stood and looked back at the several soldiers who were with him, "Alright guys, you can move him."

Two of the men moved past Ralph and reached down, gently grabbing Bill and lifting him up. Bill groaned in pain and glared at the men helping him, "Easy, will ya? Did ya not just see me get shot?"

I smiled as they carried him towards the town, another soldier with them providing cover just in case. Ralph looked at me and wiped off his bloody hands on his jacket, "We should probably get out of the open."

I nodded and followed Ralph back towards the town and out of the field, leaving the bike there. I never wanted to see it again. We walked back into town and parted ways with Bill and the other men, Ralph kept casting glances at me as he walked alongside me and I smiled a small smile as we continued down the road, "I'm fine, Ralph, just a little banged up."

"I know," Ralph said, but he still seemed solemn.

I sighed in irritation, getting tired of everybody acting like this around me, "What is it?"

Ralph looked at me for a minute as we stopped walking, then he looked down at his boots. I don't like it when Ralph is like this, he's always joking around and lightening the mood, now he was... Too serious, "You've been... Off recently. Is everythin' okay?"

I slumped my shoulders, "My brother went MIA, what'd you expect."

Ralph shook his head, "No, I mean... You seem different. You're a lot... Angrier... Than before."

I was about to snap at him about this, getting tired of being told how I feel, but that would only prove his point. I was angry. I was really angry. Bill and me weren't getting along too well right now, I barely spoke to Ralph, Gene even seemed more nervous around me than usual, and I yelled at Chuck. I don't yell.

I released a tense breath, unclenching my fists, "I'm fine. I'm just... Going through some stuff right now... I'll be fine."

"You keep sayin' that, but I'm not quite sure how true it is," Ralph said, then he held up his hands in defense before I snapped at him, "This isn't about your ability to fight. I think you're great out there on the line, you're one of the best in this company, I'm just worried 'bout ya, is all. You've become isolated, and I don't like that."

I sighed again and remained silent for a moment. I didn't know what to say. I wanted to tell him what happened, but Ralph had a big mouth and couldn't keep a secret to save his damn life. I couldn't tell him. But I had to say something, something to ease his worries.

I sighed again before I started, my voice even, "I want to tell you Ralph, I really do, but I can't. Our CO's can't find out about it, if they do, I'll... I'll get shipped back home. I'll get in trouble."

"You'll get in trouble? What'd ya do?" Ralph asked, his brow furrowed curiously.

"I didn't do anything, it's what someone else did," I said, then I shook my head, "And before you go around the company threatening everybody, trying to find out what happened, I just want to tell you that no one in the company is responsible."

"Maddie, what happened?" Ralph asked me now, his features softer than I've ever seen them. He looked worried beyond belief.

I sighed and looked down at my feet, clenching my fists at my sides, but this time in nervousness instead of anger, "I can't tell you."

"Why not?" Ralph asked.

"Because... No offense, Ralph, but you don't keep secrets very well," I said, looking up at him now.

"Well, this seems important. I can tell you really don't want this gettin' out, I won't tell nobody," Ralph promised, grabbing my arm gently in his hand, "Come on, Maddie... Tell me."

I looked him in the eyes for a minute. I could trust Ralph, I know I could. Deep down, I know he'd never tell a soul. He knew what was important and what could stay hidden. But on the surface there was still doubt. He wouldn't leave this be, though. He's been having these sort of confrontations with me for a while now. He's bound to find out sometime.

"Okay, fine. But you can't tell anybody, this is between me, you, Ralph, and Liebgott," I said, giving him that look.

He furrowed his brow at my words, "Joe knew before me?"

"He was there when it happened," I said, looking around, making sure nobody would hear us, "Okay, you promise not to tell anybody?"

Ralph nodded, biting his bottom lip nervously, "Yeah, I promise, just tell me what happened."

"Okay," I nodded, looking around once more, very cautious about this, "Okay... Remember the night I told you about my brother? The night in the bar?" Ralph nodded, so I continued, "Well, I went on a walk, remember? And I cried for a while, and apparently so much that I ended up in an alley and I have to recollection of how I got there..." I sighed, preparing myself for this next part. I don't know why, but I was always scared of talking about this part, I didn't even like thinking about it, "Well, when I was in the alley this guy from another company showed up."

"Shit," Ralph said, slumping his shoulders as he held up his hand, "Is this goin' where I think it's goin'?"

I looked up at him nervously, my hands clasped at my chest, "Yes."

"Who is it?" Ralph asked, anger covering his features now, "I'll kick his ass, don't doubt it."

"I know you would," I said, putting a hand on his chest to calm him down, "I don't know who it is, all I remember is his face. I didn't recognize him, he's from another company."

"We gotta do somethin' 'bout this, Maddie, we can't just let him walk free," Ralph told me, his face still contorted in anger.

"Ralph, you promised you wouldn't say anything," I said, regret hanging in the air.

Ralph looked down at me and saw the anxiety written on my face. He slumped his shoulders and sighed, his face losing the angry expression and being replaced with grief, but I knew he was still angry on the inside.

"I know, I did," Ralph said, nodding his head curtly, "I won't tell anybody, I promised. But you got ta do somethin'."

"Like what?" I asked, shrugging my shoulders and throwing my arms out to my sides, "I can't tell our CO's, they'll report me and I'll be kicked out of the Army, and I'm not leaving you guys. I refuse to do that."

"I don't know, Maddie, I just... You're always angry, and people are noticing," Ralph said quietly to me.

I furrowed my brow in annoyance now and clenched my fists by my sides again, "Why is it a problem that I'm angry? Liebgott's always angry and nobody gets on his case about it."

"That's because he's always been like that, that's his personality," Ralph told me, "You're not an angry person. Your entire personality has changed, you used to be sarcastic and kind, now you're... Bitter."

"I know," I said, looking down at my feet, avoiding his eyes, "But it's only been two weeks, and it's not just what happened in the alley, I'm mad about a lot of things. It's gunna take some time for me to learn how to deal with it all."

Ralph nodded, "I know... I guess we're not all innocent. We're all a little pissed off at the moment. It sucks retreating."

I nodded, "Agreed."

Ralph looked down at his hands as he picked at his fingernails, my eyes remained on my boots. I felt awkward now. Ralph spoke up again though, killing the tension, "I know it may be uncomfortable sometimes, but talkin' does help... That's what you're always tellin' us."

I smirked a little at that, "I'm really bad at taking my own advice, huh?"

"A little bit," Ralph smiled back at me, then he gestured his head for me to follow him, "Come on, I'll walk back with ya."

And so I followed Ralph, thinking about my own advice on the way.  
0-0-0-0-0  
Even though everybody was telling me I was angry, I really was getting better. I was moving on, even if it was slowly. I had bigger things to worry about right now anyway, like the war. And Bill. I hope he's okay. He was taken off the line earlier and he'll go back to England for sure if he's broken his leg like Ralph said. Bill was fine, I knew, he was good at taking care of himself, but he'll go crazy in a hospital. He hates being around people he doesn't know, he likes company. Bill and me were never apart when we were kids, he came over to my house every morning before school so we could walk there together, and then I'd walk him home and then after supper we'd meet back up again and play baseball in the street or poker on the corner. It was now I realized I was anxious, because I had taken my cards out of my pocket and started shuffling them.

I'd been sitting by myself for about two hours now in the barn, the barn where Alley was dragged to after he was shot at the crossroads. We had gone out there after it happened, we were up all night. The mission was successful, we took out two company's, but we lost Dukeman. I guess for the amount of German's we were pitted against, losing one man wasn't bad, but he was still a man, and he was still killed.

As this war went on the more I realized I wanted to go home, but at the same time I didn't. I feel like when I went home I'd be different. I'm not the same free spirited girl I was when I joined the Army. I was ambitious when I joined, I was excited and light hearted, now I was bitter and hardened. I didn't like that I had changed. I didn't like how everyone seemed to be changing. But I wanted to stay, I wanted to win this thing for the guys back home. They deserved that. I was just trying to figure out what it was Hitler dragged everyone over here for.

"Tauscher," I heard a familiar voice, causing me to snap my head up. I saw George, Babe, and Chuck walking over to me and I sighed. Here we go again, "What the hell happened?"

"Nothing," I said, putting my cards together and setting them on the table in front of me, "Me and Bill went on a joy ride and there was a sniper. Bill will be fine, and so will I."

"I heard he was hit in the leg," Chuck said, coming to sit in the chair across from me, "Ralph told me he broke it. That true?"

I shrugged, "Maybe. Ralph wasn't one-hundred percent certain."

"You weren't hit?" He asked.

I shook my head, "No, just landed on my arm funny, but it'll be fine."

"Good," Chuck said, then he smacked me upside the helmet, "Quit doing stupid shit."

"It wasn't my idea! If you're going to yell at anybody for being an idiot it should be Bill!" I said in defense of myself, "I tried talking him out of it, but frankly I was afraid he would've left me in the middle of the road so he could take the bike for a spin."

"Sounds like Bill," Babe said, sitting down next to me and leaning back in his chair comfortably as George sat down on the other side of me, filling up the last available chair.

"Well, we're glad you're both alright," George said as he got comfortable, "I thought Chuck was going to combust he was so worried."

I smirked a little and looked over at Chuck, "Sounds like him."

George smiled at that, then he looked down at the cards on the table, "Here, let's play a few rounds."

I shrugged and nodded, "Okay," Better than sitting in her moping all day, I guess.

I picked up the cards and shuffled them up real good before I started passing them out, then we went into a game of poker. We had no money to bet, so we threw in cigarettes mostly, which wouldn't be a prize for me, I didn't smoke. But I won and got about five packs. They all bitched at me, knowing I didn't smoke. Well, if they didn't want to lose their cigarettes they shouldn't have put them in the pile. I smiled smugly when I collected the goods, which seemed to annoy them more.

"You don't even smoke," George said, sort of glaring at me as he crossed his arms. He looked like a ticked off five year old.

"I guess I'll just be giving these to somebody more deserving then," I said, finding pockets to put the cigarettes in.

"I'm more deservin', give 'em ta me," Babe said from across the table, reaching forward, but I smacked his hand away.

"Hands off, Babe," I said, sending him a teasing glare.

They watched as I put the remaining pack in my breast pocket as I then started collecting the cards. They all gave me displeased looks, and I just smiled, "Don't hate the player, hate the game."

"There are no excuses here, missy," George said, "You're taking the cigarettes in spite."

"Maybe," I said, smiling, "Maybe I'll send them to Bill while he's in the hospital. He'd like that. Maybe I'll write him a letter detailing how I got them."

"By cheating?" George asked.

"No," I began putting the cards back in their box, "By kicking your asses."

"Oh, now you're just gloating," George said.

It was amusing sitting here with these guys, having my mind distracted for a little while. It was almost as if the whole war wasn't going on right now. It'd be nice to stay in contact with these guys when we go back home. It'd be fun to just hang out with them in the safety of our homes. If we all did go home.

"Well guys, it's been fun," I said, standing, "But I'm gunna go hit the hay."

"Yeah, whatever," George said, still seeming disgruntled.

"You want somebody to go with you?" Chuck asked, looking up at me as I walked around the table.

I shook my head, "No, I've just got to go up the road. I'll be fine by myself."

"Alright, see you tomorrow," Chuck said, reaching for his pack of cigarettes in his breast pocket, but not finding any.

I smiled at that and turned to go, "See ya."

I walked out onto the road and looked around. It had fallen dark. It was quite pretty where we were. The stars were bright in the sky, it was actually quite peaceful right now. I still had the worry for Bill lingering over me, but it was started to disperse. I know he'd be okay. He was going to a hospital off the line. He'd be fine. He was Bill, he was always fine.

I started down the road towards the barn where I was staying with over a dozen other men. George stayed in that barn too, but I guess he didn't want to talk to me right now since I 'cheated' and beat him at cards. He couldn't even smoke away the pain. I smiled to myself as I went towards the barn. I wonder how Bill's doing right now? He seemed to be in quite a bit of pain when he was taken away. I guess a bullet in the ass and a broken leg would do that to you. He's the third man in this company to get shot in the ass. What is it with men getting shot in the ass in this company? It was like a tradition or something.

It would be weird around without Bill for a while. It'd take a while for a broken leg to heal, depending on the severity. Bill was our motivation. He told everybody how it was. He kept us in line, but he also kept us positive. He wanted us to be happy, even though we were in the middle of a war. He wanted desperately for all of us to be happy.

I want to go home.

As I neared the barn I saw a figure standing outside the doors, smoking a cigarette, seeming a little glum. I furrowed my brow as I got closer, trying to make out the figure. My vision was a little blurry when I saw things from far away. I wore glasses back home, but only sometimes. I hated the way they looked on me. As I got nearer I saw the man smoking was Gene. I forced a smile when I saw him and I approached him, "Hey Gene."

He looked up from where his eyes were on the ground and looked over at me, then he forced a small smile, "Oh... Hey Matilda."

I had given up telling him to stop calling me by my full name at this point, he wasn't going to listen.

"You alright?" I asked, noticing he seemed down.

He kept the fake smile on his face and nodded, looking away from me now, "I'm fine."

I rolled my eyes and frowned now, "Is this going to be our thing?"

He looked up at me again, but the smile was gone and now he looked confused.

I shrugged, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning all my weight onto one leg, "You know? Both of us telling each other we need to talk about what's bothering us, but not taking our own advice?"

Gene looked away again, flicking some ash off his cigarette. I could see the sadness in his eyes, then he sighed and muttered, "My sister's gettin' married tomorrow."

I frowned deeper now, my features softening, "Oh."

He wanted to be there.

I took a few careful steps toward him, trying to think of something to say, but I had nothing. I was never good at comforting people. Luckily he spoke instead, "She's my oldest sister. The first one of us kids to get married. His name's John. Her fiancé..." He threw the cigarette onto the ground and stomped it out before he went on, "He's a nice guy, I've heard. I wouldn't know, I've never met him."

I furrowed my brow sadly, reaching out my arm and resting a hand on his arm, "She knows you couldn't be there, Gene."

He nodded, "I know... I still feel like shit, though."

He doesn't cuss often. It's weird hearing those kinds of words come out of his mouth, his voice was so calming. I looked down at my feet, not knowing what to say to make him feel better. I kept my hand on his arm and squeezed it gently, trying my best to comfort him.

He shook his head a moment later, looking down at me sort of sadly, "I'm fine. There are more important things to worry about... I'm fine."

He was about to step away, but I tightened my grip on his arm, pulling him back towards me, and he got a little closer than I had meant for him to, but I ignored that for the time being, "Gene... You're allowed to be sad... She's your sister and you're missing her wedding... Just because there's a war going on doesn't mean you just have to forget about everything going on back home. I think about home everyday. I think about my parents and how they're doing. I'm sad sometimes too, we're allowed to feel bad sometimes."

He looked at me for a moment, I couldn't tell what emotion he was displaying. He was hard to read. He always had a look of calm on his face, so it was hard to know what was going on inside his head. He was good at hiding his pain. He looked into my eyes, as if he were trying to read me as well. It was easy to get lost in his eyes, they drew you in, they were warm and welcoming.

"I heard about Bill," Gene said suddenly, which surprised me a little bit, "He'll be okay."

He was trying to comfort me. So this was how he was? He was one of these guys? Diverts his own problems and focuses on others. It was a nice quality to put others before yourself, it showed you were compassionate and caring, but you had to look after yourself sometimes too. That was something Gene didn't seem to be very good at.

"I know," I said, never breaking eye contact with him, "Your sister will be happy when you get back home and get to meet her husband. She understands you can't be there. She just wants you back safely."

He was quiet then. He seemed to be deeply hurt that he couldn't be at his sister's wedding. They must be as close as me and my brothers were. Were. Not are. I sighed internally. Gene now seemed to realize my hand was still on his arm, gripping it gently and when he looked down at it I realized how close we had become. How long have we been standing this close? I could feel his breath on my face. I could smell him. He smelled like cigarette smoke and, for some reason, chocolate. I liked it.

I shook myself out of my mind and released his arm, taking a step back to cease this tension. What just happened? He seemed a bit shy now, he avoided my eyes and I cleared my throat, rocking back and forth on my heels. That was weird, but I felt comfortable when we were close. Like that's where I was meant to be.

Gene sighed then, looking down at his feet. I looked up at him, trying to see his face. There seemed to be something else eating at him, but he was nervous to share it. I leaned over a little bit, trying to catch a glimpse of his face, "What are you thinking?"

He was quiet for a moment, shaking his head once more before he muttered quietly, "It's my birthday today."

I smiled a little and relaxed my shoulders, "Well... Happy birthday... How old are you?"

"Twenty-two," He responded, looking up at me again.

I smiled, "I'll be twenty-two next month... A couple of young people like us she be back home celebrating at a bar somewhere... Hey, there's gotta be beer around her somewhere. Let's go have a drink and celebrate your birthday!"

Gene smiled a little at my sudden enthusiasm. I looked up at him, a look of pure seriousness on my face, "I'm serious. We need a drink. Just one, just a little something to remind us of home," I held a hand up before I turned to the barn doors, "Wait here."

He didn't say anything as I made my way inside the barn. Everybody was still up, playing cards, talking, trying to pass the time. We haven't had to go out and fight off any German's for a few days, well, at least I didn't. Apparently Winters and Nixon have noticed I've been kind of out of it lately and they made me sit out when they went out a couple days ago after Alley was hit. I'm glad they made me sit out, it gave me a few days to really sit back and take everything in. Things were becoming better, just slowly.

"Hey Tauscher, where the hell you been?" Hoobler asked as he sat at a table playing cards with Webster, Martin, and Liebgott.

"Out," I said, "It's been a day."

"Yeah, I heard about Bill," Hoobler said, looking up at me briefly, "Don't worry, he'll be alright. He's Bill."

"I know," I said, looking around, "We got any beer in here?"

"Maybe," Hoobler said, "Check upstairs."

I nodded and walked past them, going to the ladder that led upstairs. I climbed up and saw Hashey, Garcia, and Skinny lying around, talking and drinking beer. I smiled as I climbed all the way up and looked around, "We do have beer. Can I have a couple?"

Skinny shrugged, "Sure. It's over there."

I smiled and walked around the three and found the beer behind some hay. I grabbed two and went. They were warm, but it was beer, I wasn't complaining. I wasn't a drinker, but I needed one right now. And so did Gene. I held up a beer at Skinny and said, "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Skinny said as I went down the ladder.

I made my way back towards the doors, but I was stopped before I made it there, "Two? Who's with you?"

I turned around to face Hoobler as they continued playing cards, "Gene," I replied.

The entire table minus Liebgott chorused a bunch of 'oohs!' I rolled my eyes and gave them a look as I held the two beers in my hands, "What?"

"You and Doc," Hoobler said, not looking up at me, focusing his eyes on his cards, "Going on a date."

I narrowed my eyes at him, my shoulders stiff now, "It's not a date, we're just drinking a couple of beers together."

"Sounds like a date to me," Martin chipped in, avoiding my eyes as well.

I'd smack all four of them if I could. Liebgott wasn't getting in on the teasing, but I saw a small smile gracing his lips. The jackass, "Bite me."

Martin and Hoobler laughed at that, and Webster chuckled as I turned quickly away from them and went out the door. I stepped back outside, both beers in my hands and a look of annoyance on my face, "Are you okay?" I heard Gene asked when I stepped out.

I stepped over to him, shaking my head, "Hoobler's about to get a foot in the ass."

Gene smirked at that as I handed him a beer. I quickly opened mine and took a large swig, throwing the cap down somewhere on the ground. I felt Gene's eyes on me as I drank, then he asked, "Rough day?"

I looked at him and nodded, "Little bit. But enough about me, it's _your_ birthday. Let's celebrate," I raised my beer and smiled at him, "You're a good man, Eugene Roe. Happy twenty-second and here's to many more."

His face got a little pink at that, but he opened his bottle and raised it before we both took a swig. The beer wasn't bad, I wasn't gonna lie. He smiled shyly and looked over at me, "Thanks."

"No problem," I replied back to him, looking up at the beautiful sky, "So... What's your sister like?"

Gene looked down at the bottle in his hand, reading the label before he replied, "She's nice. Tough... She was the one that got me out of trouble back when we were kids, made sure my mother didn't find out about what kind of hell I'd been raisin'."

"You? Raising hell? I can't see that," I smirked and snickered, and he smiled back and nodded.

"I was a pain in the ass when I was a kid," Gene told me, looking across the field, "I used to get in a lot of trouble."

"We got something in common, then," I replied, shaking my head, "I was a bit shy in elementary school, but I grew out of that quickly... I got picked on some, because I'm short obviously. I was probably in fifth or sixth grade when I decided if I became the bully they'd leave me alone, it worked pretty well for a while. I liked to cause trouble. I used to tease the boys I had crushes on, I'd shoot spit balls at them when we were in class and laugh about it. I used to fight a lot, I rarely lost surprisingly... I didn't have a lot of friends though, I hung out with my brothers mostly, or at least my younger one. My older brother eventually 'got too old' to hang out with 'little kids', so it was just me and Mattie for a while. Then I met Bill and I kind of grew out of my bully phase after a while. Me and Bill did everything together... We still do..." I trailed off, looking across the field now too, then I broke out of my little childhood flashback trance and turned to look up at Gene, "How about you? Tell me a story."

"Um, okay..." Gene thought for a minute as I took a sip from my drink. Okay, the taste got worse as time went on, "Well... As I said, I was a troublemaker. My parents used to get annoyed with me, I'd always come home with a black eye or just all bruised up. I didn't really pick fights, but if somebody was sayin' somethin' I didn't like I wasn't afraid to get involved... I used to tease my sisters too. I liked putting bugs under their pillows and stuff like that... One time I changed their shampoo with honey, it took them a month to get all that out... My parents started fighting a lot when my dad lost his job, so I started hangin' around my grandmother a lot. She taught me a lot. She was a very religious person, and I guess I am to a certain extent. It's good to have faith though... You know what I mean?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm not super religious myself, but I've always believed in God and all that..." Gene nodded and looked down at his drink for a moment before he took another sip. I smiled at him then, "Gene... You're a man of many mysteries."

He gave me a quizzical look, "What do you mean?"

I smiled wider then, "Never in a million years would I have guessed you to be a little brat. Not knowing you now anyway."

He smiled and shrugged, "We all have a past, I just grew up."

"You became a better man than me," I said in return, "I never grew out of my pain in the ass stage."

I wasn't looking at him, but I knew he was smiling at me, "That much is true."

I gaped, but smiled, turning to look at him, "Excuse me?"

He chuckled at my reaction, "You get the same reactions Luz gets. People roll their eyes, shake their heads... Some of 'em laugh... It all just proves you're a pain in the ass."

"Well," I said, still smiling as I gazed up at him, "When I told you to get things off your chest, I didn't mean literally everything."

Gene laughed again and I smiled. There we go, he's smiling again. I smirked and turned away from him, looking back out at the countryside, sipping on my beer. We both enjoyed the silence for a minute as Eugene's laughter died down. The wind was blowing gently, there was a slight chill in the air. Things were okay, if only for just a moment.

"Oh yeah," I said, looking up at him again, "You like Lucky Strikes?"

Gene shrugged and nodded, "Yeah, they're alright."

I dug into my pockets and pulled out the cigarettes I won earlier, handing all five packs to him, "Here. Happy Birthday."

He smiled as he took them, then he looked at me, "Thanks, Matilda."

I smiled, "No problem."

Then it was quiet for a minute as Eugene put his birthday present into his pockets, then he spoke again, "I mean it," He said, making me give him a curious look, "Thanks."

I smiled, knowing exactly what he meant, "Just doing my job."

He smiled when I used his little catchphrase, then we both looked back across the countryside, enjoying the view for once.


	11. Wasting Time

A/N - I keep making you guys wait, I know. I'm sorry. Here's a decent chapter. I like some parts of it, and other parts I don't like so much. I hope you guys enjoy, and please R&R.

Disclaimer - Read the first chapter's.

December 13, 1944

Christmas time was usually my favorite time of year, and it was peaceful right now. We weren't fighting, we hadn't been in any big trouble in a while. We'd been relaxing for the past few days waiting for our next orders, it seemed like we'd been waiting forever. I was happy that we were getting a break, but after a while it's weird. There was a war going on and we were just sitting here waiting. It was frustrating not knowing where you were going and when.

To keep me busy during our break, I was given the task of mail duty. I was back and forth all the time handing out mail, and when I wasn't handing it out, I was sorting it. It was annoying, but it kept me busy at least and it was a little enjoyable watching the men get excited when they found out they got mail. It never failed to put a smile on my face. I had gotten a letter as well, but it wasn't as fun getting letters from home for me. The last letter I got was depressing. My mother had written to me and told me my father was depressed because of what happened to Mattie and now they were wanting me to come home. Of course I wrote back telling them I couldn't abandon the war and my men, but I hadn't heard back from them since. Until today. I found my letter hiding behind Tab's, it was a hefty letter, too. I swallowed thickly when I read my name across the front, frowning nervously. I should be excited, but I was always a little concerned with what my mother had to say. She was always hesitant about what I had done, she was never supposed to know in the first place. My dad was always proud of me, he was always supportive, my mother was protective though and she overheard me and my dad talking about it one day. I told her the truth and she took some convincing, but she finally caved when she realized that I'd find a way in no matter what. I was happy she let me go, and I knew deep down she was proud of me, but sometimes I was afraid she might tell somebody about me just to get me to come home.

I nervously but quickly tore open the envelope and pulled the three page letter out of it, unfolding it and beginning to read it right away.

 _My daughter, Matilda_

 _We're doing well here, don't worry about us. We're getting a little better everyday, though we still hold worry in our hearts. Your grandfather asked about you the other day, he wondered how you were. I told him, of course, you were working with the Red Cross in England. I wish. He wanted to know if you'd be able to make it for Christmas, he hasn't seen you in such a long time after all. I told him you wouldn't be able to, as they're desperate for help overseas. He told me to tell you he misses you very much and he's sorry to hear about your brother. He cried when I told him. Can you believe it? Your grandfather actually crying? I couldn't believe it myself, the two never got along well anyway, but there was always love there, it was just buried deep down. I'm doing a little better everyday, but it will always hurt. Me and your father both miss you very much, and even though he won't admit it, I heard him crying last week. I never said anything to him, knowing he'd just deny it. You know your father, he's always been a hard shell to crack. He's stubborn, just like you. I'm sorry if this is ruining your day, I know this all sounds a bit depressing, but I just had to tell you. One last thing before I move on though. I don't want you to worry about me turning you in, I know how important this is to you, I'd never hurt you in such a way and I can't bare losing you. Anyway, let's move on._

 _Mr. James from next door is doing well, he asks about you all the time. He had a nice garden this summer, he had so many tomatoes he had no idea what to do with them, so we got a whole bunch as a gift over the season. The boy from down the street that used to ride his bike by the house has gotten so tall since you've left. He's almost as tall as your dad. and to think he used to be so small. Reminds me of you and your brothers and how fast you three grew. Time flies. Ms. Nancy finally sold her house, she left last week. She moved to Hershey with her kids, I feel bad for those three, I really do._

 _Anyway, how is Bill? I hope he's well, I miss his loud mouth in the kitchen pestering me. And to think I used to hate that. I hope he's watching over you and making sure you're alright, and those other two better be doing the same. Chuck and Ralph were their names? They sound like good guys, they seem to make you happy. And this Joe fellow? The way your talk about him reminds me of how you and your brothers used to bicker all the time. Maybe he's not that bad, just a new friend to get to know. And one last thing before I finish this. Who's this Eugene boy you keep mentioning? It sounds like you like him, I've never heard you talk about a boy this way before. Do I heard wedding bells? See? I can embarrass you even from abroad, it's a gift from God._

 _Anyway, that's about all I can think to say. I hope you're well and tell Bill and the boys I say hello and wish them well. I can't wait to see you again and me and everyone back here in Philly love you so much._

 _Best of luck and all the love in the world, Mom._

 _P.S. The Phillies looked horrible all season and the Eagles did, too. Sorry to put you down._

I smiled at the last bit and wiped at my wet eyes. Alright, that wasn't so bad. She seemed to be trying to be positive, for my dad and for everyone. My mother was always a strong woman, you just had to bring it out of her. I felt my eyes get wet when she started talking about my grandfather, me and him were always close. And he cried? I'd never seen him cry, not once in my life. And my dad. He cried too. I'd seen him cry once, and that was when his grandmother died, and that's been years ago. Even when she was talking about the neighbors it got me teary eyed. I never realized I'd missed home so much until she started talking about just the little things, like Mr. James' garden. And when she mentioned Joe. That reminds her of me and my brothers arguing? Me and Joe? I had to think about it for a minute, but I still couldn't believe it. After he helped me out that night, I thought maybe he was decent, but he'd just reverted back to being an ass like he was when I first met him back in Georgia. And last but not least, Eugene. I'm pretty sure my whole face turned red when she was talking about him. Me and Eugene were close, but we weren't that close... Were we? No, we weren't that close.

I looked at the words written on the page again, not really even reading them. Except for the last line. _Best of luck and all the love in the world, Mom._ I love that, I don't why, I just do. I smiled sweetly and folded the letter and the envelope, pushing both of them into my breast pocket. I leaned back in my chair and looked up at the roof of the tent I was in. My day was a little brighter now, mail time for me was exciting again.

"Knock, knock. Anybody home?" I heard a familiar Philly accent say and my eyes widened immediately, a big smile pushing it's way quickly to my face.

I sat up and turned to look and saw Bill Guarnere standing at the entrance of the tent, "Bill!"

I stood and ran over to him, wrapping my arms around his neck and I felt his body shake with a laugh as he returned the hug, "Easy, easy. My leg's still a little tender."

I pulled back and looked up at his face, my hands still on his shoulders, "What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be back yet."

He just smiled at me and shrugged, "You know me, I can't be away from you for too long. You might start causin' trouble."

I rolled my eyes, but the smile remained, "Well, we missed you around here. It's weird without you around. Not as..."

"Cheerful?" Bill asked with a smile.

"Loud," I said with a smirk as I just gave him a look, the look I always gave him.

Bill chuckled and shook his head before he looked around the tent, "So... You got your own little place here, heh?"

I shook my head as he limped around me, looking around, "Well, technically I share it with Joe Toye, but he's always out pestering everyone else, so he's never here... I'm not even quite sure he sleeps here to be honest."

"Sounds like Joe," Bill smiled, looking around, "So... Whatcha been up to lately? How is everybody?"

I smiled and shrugged, "I'm fine, everybody's fine. They're a bit jumpy when you're not here to whip them into shape."

"Well, I bet they'll be glad ta see me back, huh?" Bill smiled proudly as he continued looking around my tent, "So what do you guys do ta entertain yourselves 'round here?"

I shrugged, "Not much. We read mail, bullshit, play cards sometimes... There's a movie playing tonight, want to go?"

"What's playin'?" He asked, turning back around to face me.

I shrugged, "I don't know, George invited me and I just said I'd go. I've got nothing better to do anyway."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Bill said, shrugging his shoulders loosely, "Sure, I'll go. This movie better be good, though."

"They're never good," I said, "George has seen it like ten times though, so..."

Bill rolled his eyes before he switched the subject, "Ya hear from your parents?"

I nodded, "Yeah, my mom wrote me a letter. She wanted to let me know to tell you hi and that she misses you around the house."

Bill smiled, "I miss her, too."

"Well, she is your second mom," I smiled teasingly and Bill nodded.

"Ya got that right," Bill said as he sat down at the small table I was previously at. He looked up at me, "Come on, we got some time ta kill, let's play some cards."

I nodded curtly and pulled the chair out across from him, sitting down and pulling my cards out of my pocket, "Alright."

And then we started.  
0-0-0-0-0  
"Look at me, I'm John Wayne," George Luz said as he sat in front of me and Bill. I looked at Bill and rolled my eyes as George continued. I saw Toye and Lipton turn around to face him, looks of annoyance on their faces.

"I'm trying to watch this," Lipton said to him.

"I've seen this movie thirteen times, okay?" George said in defense, making me hold back a chuckle.

"Well, I haven't, so shut up," Toye said in annoyance.

"Watch the movie, it's fine," George said, motioning towards the screen.

Then I heard Malarkey call out for Skip as he ran over, everybody shushing him as he pushed past me and Bill and sat in the seat next to mine. He started muttering about something I wasn't paying enough attention to; I was trying to watch the movie I'd never seen. I didn't really like it that much, it was kind of boring thus far.

I never liked these types of movies anyway. George's commentary was much more entertaining.

"And... To say thank you..." I looked over to see what Malarkey was doing and saw the large wad of cash in his hand, making my eyes go wide, "A tip!"

He handed some money to Skip, who already had quite a few dollars in his hand and then Perconte started begging for a tip, which Don smoothly ignored.

"Jesus, where the hell did you get all that?" I asked in complete and utter surprise.

Don smiled at me and replied with, "Craps, my dear Tauscher."

"You must be really good," I said as he stuffed the remainder of his winnings in his pocket.

"You bet your ass I am," He replied as George started mocking the actors on screen again.

"Got a penny?" George said in his usual mocking voice. He said it several times and when the woman on screen said the line he giggled like a little girl as Lipton glared back at him.

I snickered quietly and held my face in my hand, trying to hide my smile and Bill just rolled his eyes at the company jokester. George looked back at me and smiled, "At least somebody finds me entertaining. Tough crowd today, eh Mads?"

Before I could even reply the door slammed open and the lights came on, making me jerk and lift my head, looking around to see what was going on. As several higher ups walked into the 'theater,' the men grumbled in annoyance that their movie was cut short.

"Be quiet!" One of the men yelled as he made his way towards the stage then he turned around, "I said quiet!"

We all got quiet as he started explaining to us that a section of the SS had broken through a forest and were advancing on Allied troops. We were all disgruntled by this. We knew what was coming. What he was going to say.

"All officers will report to their respective HQ's. All passes are cancelled," He said and that's when the uproar began. The man promptly left the stage as the men continued to complain, but it didn't take long for everybody to start getting up and leaving the theater. I sighed and looked down at my hands in my lap almost sadly. Well, we were safe and happy for a few days.

"You alright, Maddie?" Bill asked as he still sat next to me.

I nodded and looked over at him, nodding a little in assurance, "Yeah... I'm fine."

Bill smiled a tight lipped smile and put a comforting hand on my shoulder, "We'll be alright... We always are."

I nodded, "Yeah... I'm sure you're right."

Bill squeezed my shoulder in reassurance before he patted me on the back and stood, starting out the room with the rest of the men. I only sat there for a moment longer before I stood and followed his lead.  
0-0-0-0-0  
God dammit it was cold. I was sat huddled in the back of a truck with about twenty other guys. We tried fitting as many men into one truck as possible, and by God we accomplished it. I was squished between Malarkey, who was sitting up on the bench beside Bill, and Joe. Me and Joe sat on the floor, trying to keep warm as the cool wind hit our backs. I was rubbing my hands together to generate warmth as Joe held his jacket together at the neck. He wasn't wearing a hat, so the tips of his ears were bright pink.

Everybody in the truck was complaining about what we were going to do without proper gear and ammo, and frankly I was worried too, but right now I was too focused on keeping my hands warm. A violent shiver ran through my body, causing me to shake. Joe's shoulder pushed against mine and I felt him lean a little closer, as if trying to share his body heat with me and in turn receive some of mine. I didn't complain, we may not get along but we were still brothers in combat and we had to look out for one another. I'll never forget what he did for me.

"Hey kid, what's your name again?" Bill suddenly asked the new replacement.

"Suerth," He replied, looking away from Popeye lighting a cigarette and turning to look at Bill, "Suerth Jr."

"You got any ammo, Junior?" Babe asked as he stayed huddled in the corner, his arms crossed to contain his body heat.

"Just what I'm carrying," He replied in a friendly way. He seemed like a nice kid, but he also seemed a bit innocent. That'd change.

"What about socks, Junior? You got extra socks?" Somebody else asked him.

"Just a pair," Suerth replied.

"You need four minimum," Skip suddenly spoke up, holding up a finger, "Feet, hands, neck, balls, extra socks warms them all," We all jumped in to end that one, "Yay, we all remember that one!"

As Skip kept on about socks, Bill started asking for cigarettes. Nobody had any it seemed, so he asked the new guy, "Hey Junior, you got any cigarettes?"

"I don't-" But he was cut off by Joe.

"How about a hat? You gotta hat?" Then I added, "Gloves? You got any of those?"

"What about a coat? You gotta coat?" Joe asked, his hands gripping the hems of his jacket tightly, his hands red with cold.

"Shut up with the coat, Liebgott, no one's got one," Somebody piped up from the back as we all continued to pester the new kid.

Garcia then asked him for some cigarettes and Junior smiled nervously, "Yeah, I got some smokes."

"Hey! Now you're talkin'!" Skip cried as everybody reached out their hand for a cigarette, besides me of course.

The men continued to mutter for a few minutes as we continued on down the rumbling road. I kept my arms crossed over my chest tightly, trying to keep the warmth from leaving my body. Why did it have to be so cold? I was so tired too, it was late. Nobody should be up this late.

I felt the truck start to turn, jerking me a little and causing me to wake up a little. I heard people outside yelling to 'keep it moving.' We started past some other already parked trucks before we turned and parked on the side of the narrow road. Everybody grabbed their stuff: helmets, weapons, all that, then the door popped down and we all jumped out onto the road.

"Alright guys, fifteen minutes. Smoke 'em if you got 'em," Buck said as he hopped out behind us.

Most of the guys were either lighting cigarettes or using the bathroom. I had to pee, but I couldn't go here in front of all these guys. So I held it until we got somewhere more secluded. I didn't have to go that bad anyway. I rubbed my hands together as I looked around the road, trying not to let my eyes land on any of the men pissing on the side of the road. So instead I looked down at my feet.

Some of the guys lit some fires, so I walked over to one of them. I could get warm, if only for a few minutes. I stopped in front of the fire and held my hands out in front of me. Wish I had some damn gloves. I rubbed them together and blew on them, hoping to give them as much warmth as possible.

"You doin' alright, Matilda?" I heard next to me. I knew exactly who it was, I didn't even have to look up.

"I'm fine, Gene," I said, shaking my head and releasing a breath, the air cloudy in front of me, "Just fucking cold."

He chuckled lightly and held his hands out in front of him as well, "I haven't seen you around much lately."

I shrugged and replied with, "Mail duty's a real bitch. I've been running around getting supplies, too. Captain Winters really wanted me to stay busy, I guess."

"Yeah, me and Spina have been busy gatherin' medical supplies," He said, sniffling a little, "I guess Captain Winters wanted everyone to stay busy."

I smiled a little and shook my head, "Gathering supplies sure was a hell of a lot better than this. And it's only going to get worse."

Gene was quiet for a moment, then he said in his soft voice, "We'll be fine, Matilda."

I smiled a small smile and looked up at him, "I know."

He smiled back at me and my heart fluttered at the sight. His nose was cherry red, as were his hands, and he shivered slightly. He was putting on a brave face though, like he always did when we were about to go out into combat. He held this company together just as much as Bill did.

I suddenly heard the mutterings of other men behind me and what seemed like footsteps in unison. I furrowed my brow, as did Gene as we both turned around to see what was going on. What we saw shocked us.

"What the hell...?" I said as I watched dozens and dozens of men, some wounded and some shell shocked, walk past us, looks of defeat and complete shock on their faces.

They looked horrible. Some had bandages over their heads, some over their shoulders and arms. Others had their arms in slings, and some had limps. One guy was being helped along by his comrade. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. They were all retreating.

"Hey, hey," I said, grabbing one of the guys by his arm as he hobbled along, "What the hell's going on here? Where're you guys going?"

"It's bad, kid. It's really, really bad," He said in a monotone voice, shaking his head, "The German's surrounded us, a lot of us didn't make it out. We're what's left."

"That's where we're going," I said, pointing to the forest they were coming out of.

"Good luck," He said, "You're gunna need it."

I stood there for a moment in surprise. What the hell happened back there? This scared me a little. I was always a bit frightened going into battle, but never like this. Would we end up like this? Dead or horribly wounded and shell-shocked? I saw men all around trying to take anything they could off these guys. Ammo, supplies, warm clothing.

"Come on, give me your ammo," I said, grabbing at his bag.

"Okay," He said quietly, giving me what he had.

I took what he handed me and stuffed it in my bag then I spotted somebody behind this man. I pointed and said, "Gene. Medic, over there."

Gene nodded and promptly stepped over to the medic and started asking for supplies. I continued to get stuff off of this guy, including a bandage in his aid kit. Sadly, he didn't have any gloves. After I finished getting his stuff I moved on. I got some good stuff, but it wouldn't last us too long. And I didn't find gloves. Some didn't have any and some just refused to give up their warm clothes.

We were told to move out after a few minutes, so we took what we got and got a move on. I walked alongside Gene, but both of us remained silent. Now wasn't a time for talking, right now we were all nervous, but we held a brave face. We had to, it's what we were trained to do.

We went into Bastogne with no ammo, very little medical supplies, and no winter clothing. If we weren't shot or blown up out here, then we'd most definitely freeze to death. I stuffed my hands under my armpits and went along down the road. I hope I find some gloves soon, I'm not gunna last this whole thing without some gloves. Hopefully this wouldn't last too long.

We did pretty well for ourselves so far in this war. We'd barely had any casualties within the company, just some wounded. Our worst day of course was Operation Market Garden, but we'd all succeeded with pushing that out of our minds. We were tough, we'd make it through.

We weren't prepared for what was to come.


End file.
